Viewing communication with underlying systems
By using the network automation UI or the task messages API, you can view the messages that are exchanged between resource drivers and the underlying systems that complete intent requests.
- Ensure that application logging is enabled in your Cloud Pak instance. For more information, see Enabling and disabling application logging.
- This functionality is not supported in active-active configurations of IBM® Cloud Pak for Network Automation because the message records are currently not retrievable across clusters. You can view only the communication that took place with the drivers in the cluster that you are logged in to.
You submit intent requests to create, update, or delete instances of assemblies or resources. For each request, based on the type of infrastructure that is required, the orchestration component determines which resource drivers to use. The term underlying systems refers to the external systems that resource drivers communicate with to complete intent requests. For example, the Kubernetes resource driver communicates with external Kubernetes systems.
Intent requests for an assembly are broken down into the tasks that must be completed for each resource in the assembly. By using the network automation UI or the task messages API, you can view the communication between the drivers and the underlying systems that handle these resource tasks. You might find the content of this communication useful for many reasons. For example, it might be helpful when you deploy a new underlying system, or troubleshoot issues with resource tasks that fail or take too long.
In the network automation UI, you can select a resource task and view its related messages. These messages are shown as sets that usually contain one request and one response. You can view the high-level details of message sets and the content of individual messages. For more information, see Viewing driver messages for intent tasks.
Similarly, you can use the task messages API to view the high-level details of messages that are exchanged between resource drivers and the underlying systems for specific resource tasks. You can also view the content of specific messages. For more information, see Task messages API.
- If the resource task that you want to view messages for is currently running, each message might not be shown in the UI or in API search results until one minute after the message is generated.
- Only messages that relate to resource tasks can be viewed. For example, if a resource task is handled by the SOL 003 resource driver, you can view only the messages that relate to that task. You cannot view messages that relate to VNF package management.