@phillipkent can you share examples of API/cloudmonkey commands where we would like to use * in the args?

With this http request without this fix:

list users username=*
2016-01-08 22:41:50,945 - connectionpool.py:387 - [DEBUG] "GET /client/api?username=%2A&signatureversion=3&expires=2016-01-08T17%3A21%3A50%2B0000&sessionkey=mF-XRv0Ixt4rhKqi0O54RIkG84Q&command=listUsers&response=json HTTP/1.1" 200 24

This is the request with the fix:
2016-01-08 22:43:00,099 - connectionpool.py:387 - [DEBUG] "GET /client/api?username=%2A&signatureversion=3&expires=2016-01-08T17%3A23%3A00%2B0000&sessionkey=OinP2NNyTEdstZijxXmRYRjZpoI&command=listUsers&response=json HTTP/1.1" 200 24

In both cases, username gets encoded as %2A which looks alright to me.

@bhaisaab The commands that I tested were to set or modify the displaytext/displayname for a network or virtual machine, such as " update network id=xxxxx displaytext='test*' " . I need to try your example and check that I understand what is going on. I do accept that * is not a very likely symbol to use in a description, however it should work with breaking anything.

@phillipkent I understand, but looks like it still works without your fix. I was able to update network display test with a * in it:

Update API:

2016-01-11 17:10:09,300 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] ======== START Request ========
2016-01-11 17:10:09,300 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] Requesting command=updateNetwork, args={u'displaytext': u'test*', u'id': u'7c0453ad-1689-423a-a90f-ce69a317694b'}
2016-01-11 17:10:09,301 - connectionpool.py:203 - [INFO] Starting new HTTP connection (1): localhost
2016-01-11 17:10:09,375 - connectionpool.py:383 - [DEBUG] "GET /client/api?signatureversion=3&apiKey=&expires=2016-01-11T11%3A50%3A09%2B0000&id=7c0453ad-1689-423a-a90f-ce69a317694b&command=updateNetwork&signature=MVIus5218oqK8bL46AyPRyR%2FDBI%3D&displaytext=test%2A&response=json HTTP/1.1" 200 None
2016-01-11 17:10:09,375 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] Request sent: http://localhost:8096/client/api?signatureversion=3&apiKey=&expires=2016-01-11T11%3A50%3A09%2B0000&id=7c0453ad-1689-423a-a90f-ce69a317694b&command=updateNetwork&signature=MVIus5218oqK8bL46AyPRyR%2FDBI%3D&displaytext=test%2A&response=json
2016-01-11 17:10:09,375 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] Response received: {"updatenetworkresponse":{"jobid":"879eac5b-94d5-474a-8e5e-840fd9e5652e"}}
2016-01-11 17:10:09,375 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] ======== END Request ========

List API to verify:

2016-01-11 17:10:24,671 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] ======== START Request ========
2016-01-11 17:10:24,671 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] Requesting command=listNetworks, args={}
2016-01-11 17:10:24,673 - connectionpool.py:203 - [INFO] Starting new HTTP connection (1): localhost
2016-01-11 17:10:24,693 - connectionpool.py:383 - [DEBUG] "GET /client/api?signatureversion=3&apiKey=&expires=2016-01-11T11%3A50%3A24%2B0000&command=listNetworks&signature=2JxFqItleF3j9ehZqXnLQXYgK6g%3D&response=json HTTP/1.1" 200 None
2016-01-11 17:10:24,693 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] Request sent: http://localhost:8096/client/api?signatureversion=3&apiKey=&expires=2016-01-11T11%3A50%3A24%2B0000&command=listNetworks&signature=2JxFqItleF3j9ehZqXnLQXYgK6g%3D&response=json
2016-01-11 17:10:24,693 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] Response received: {"listnetworksresponse":{"count":1,"network":[{"id":"7c0453ad-1689-423a-a90f-ce69a317694b","name":"guestNetworkForBasicZone","displaytext":"test*","broadcastdomaintype":"Native","traffictype":"Guest","zoneid":"e8c8546d-27bb-40f2-9a57-e37571449bf9","zonename":"MyBasicZone","networkofferingid":"4d7d1343-18ce-466e-8d92-209d96efdcdf","networkofferingname":"DefaultSharedNetworkOffering","networkofferingdisplaytext":"Offering for Shared networks","networkofferingconservemode":true,"networkofferingavailability":"Optional","issystem":false,"state":"Setup","related":"7c0453ad-1689-423a-a90f-ce69a317694b","broadcasturi":"vlan://untagged","dns1":"8.8.8.8","type":"Shared","vlan":"untagged","acltype":"Domain","subdomainaccess":true,"domainid":"f8133339-ad2c-11e5-be84-00012e4ff7d0","domain":"ROOT","service":[{"name":"Dhcp","capability":[{"name":"DhcpAccrossMultipleSubnets","value":"true","canchooseservicecapability":false}]},{"name":"Dns","capability":[{"name":"AllowDnsSuffixModification","value":"true","canchooseservicecapability":false}]},{"name":"UserData"}],"networkdomain":"cs1cloud.internal","physicalnetworkid":"19ded38f-460a-4344-a60f-df788954ba11","restartrequired":false,"specifyipranges":true,"canusefordeploy":true,"ispersistent":false,"tags":[],"displaynetwork":true,"strechedl2subnet":false}]}}
2016-01-11 17:10:24,694 - requester.py:49 - [DEBUG] ======== END Request ========

@bhaisaab I tested a clean virtualenv install of Cloudmonkey 5.3.2 (from PyPy) and also a clone of the latest Cloudmonkey from github (Python version is 2.7.6). Both of those give me authentication failure when passing a '*' in the command string. The endpoint I am testing is CloudPlatform 4.3.2 (with customisations). Can it be an issue for v4.3.2 but not in later version? I will investigate further and try to diagnose.

I've tried the update network API with ACS 4.5.2 and 4.7.0 and it works for me, so it could be a 4.3.2 related limitation. In that case, we can have this fix though in the request/response logged it made no difference with/without this fix irrespective of the ACS version (as logged in previous comments).

@phillipkent I hit this issue today, while passing an argument. this worked for me.

@bhaisaab : Thanks!