Postman Collection

Postman is a popular tool for testing APIs. HPE Aruba Networking Central provides two official Postman collections that help you test and explore REST APIs directly from Postman.

1. MRT APIs Collection
2. Configuration APIs Collection

Both collections share the same authentication flow (OAuth 2.0), and you can use the same environment for both.

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Postman Definitions

• A collection is a set of API endpoints or requests, along with each endpoint's authorization type, parameters, headers, request bodies, tests, and settings grouped together.
• An environment is a set of one or more variables that you can reference when sending requests or writing test scripts in Postman.

Prerequisites

• Install the Postman desktop or web app (download link)
• Identify the API Gateway Base URL of your Central account (Finding Your Base URL in Central)
• Ensure you have valid HPE Aruba Networking Central API credentials (Steps to generate client credentials)

Forking the Collections and Environment

Both collections and the environment are hosted inside the official New HPE Aruba Networking Central Postman Workspace. Follow these steps:

1. Open the workspace above in Postman.
2. Locate the following assets pinned in the workspace sidebar:
   1. MRT APIs (Collection)
   2. Configuration APIs (Collection)
   3. New HPE Aruba Networking Central ENV (Environment)
3. Click the Fork button on each item to fork them into your own Postman workspace.

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   Note

   Forking creates a personal copy of the official Postman collections and environment in your own workspace.
   This lets you safely test APIs, change variables, and make changes without affecting the shared workspace.

Setting Up the Environment

1. In your workspace, go to the Environments tab in Postman.

2. Select the HPE Aruba Networking Central ENV and click the checkmark icon to set it as the active environment.

3. Configure the following variables:

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Use Central Client Credentials for Postman

Although API client credentials created for GreenLake Cloud Platform (GLP) and Central are honored by Central when you make API calls, the Postman collections require the client credentials created for your Central instance. Enter those Central credentials in the client_id and client_secret environment variables.

Authentication Setup

Central uses OAuth 2.0 for secure API authentication, and the Postman collections leverage this to simplify token management.

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Authentication is Per Collection

Both the collections can use the same environment, but each collection has it's own authentication flow. This means authentication must be completed separately for MRT and separately for Configuration.

Once the environment variables are configured and selected, each collection must generate and store its own OAuth token using the collection-level Auth tab. The tokens are not shared between collections.

1. After configuring the HPE Aruba Networking Central ENV variables, ensure the environment is active. This single environment is reused by both collections. No duplication is needed.
2. Authenticate at the collection level because Postman does not share tokens across collections. For example, to authenticate MRT APIs, open the MRT APIs collection, go to the Auth tab, and click “Get New Access Token.”
3. Postman requests a token and stores it in that collection.
4. Once the request succeeds, your token is ready for use. You can immediately make API calls to Central from the Postman collection.