WebHooks allow one application to securely provide real-time information to another application, a fantastic tool for automation.
But what if you are not a programmer well versed in python, json and APIs?
In this tutorial I hope to demonstrate how easy using WebHooks can be, even with no programming knowledge.
The use case for this workflow is; I do not receive e-mails on my mobile, but would like to know in real time if my colleagues make changes to our network gear managed by Aruba Central. This use case may also be applicable to Delivery Managers and Change Managers.
In this Tutorial I've used:
- Aruba Central 2.5.0 (The Q1 calendar year 2020 version)
- Zapier <- to catch the WebHooks
- Twilio <- to push notifications out
At the time of testing Zapier only supported text to US or UK numbers, depending on your environment you may not need Twilio.
To start I signed up for a Twilio account.
We need to get a number Twilio will use to send the notifications from.
This is a simple click on the "Get a Trial Number" on the Dashboard once you logged in.
Next we will need the Zapier account.
Click on "My Zaps" and then on "Explore Zap Templates"
In the "Explorer" type and select "Twilio"
Under Popular zaps for Twilio select "Send Webhooks notifications as an SMS message with Twilio"
Copy the WebHook URL
On Aruba Central select Account Home on the top right.
Select WebHooks
Click on + Webhook
Give the Webhook a name and paste in the URL
Go to account home and launch Network Operations
With "All Devices" as the filter at "global" top left, select "Alerts & Events"
Click on the cog top right to configure alerts.
Select Audit and click on "Config Change Detected"
I set the severity as Warning, for me this is really just informational.
Select WebHook, pick the WebHook we created from the drop down and save.
Back to Zapier, I've made some changes on devices in Aruba Central to send data to the WebHook.
On Zapier I can now click on "Test & Review" to verify the information I'm interested in is coming through.
The next piece on Zapier, pre populated with Twilio.
We now need to "link" the Twilio account, click in sign in.
Zapier will ask for SID and Auth Token.
We can get this from Twilio under settings.
The from number is the trial number we selected in Twilio, it should be in the drop down.
Click on the hamburger with the + and select the interesting information from the WebHook.
Click continue
Test it is all working
Finish and turn the Zap on
I now get text notifications every time a change is made in Aruba Central, including where the change was made and by whom.
This tutorial is intended to be an intro, the possibilities are endless. Perhaps use IFTTT to turn the Hue lights red when a device goes down?
If you find this post useful, give me kudos for it ;)