member_count in nested virtual chassis should be removed from example model in REST API documentation.

[PaulWestphal]

Change Type

Correction

Area

REST API

Proposed Changes

As explained in this issue (#9329), the nested virtual chassis from the /dcim/devices/ endpoint does not return a member_count. However, the swagger-ui documentation clearly shows an example model WITH this field.

Jeremy argued that this field should not exist, so it should be removed from the example model as well.

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[amhn]

member_count needs to be removed from NestedVirtualChassisSerializer and the corresponding test.

Happy to provide a PR.

[DanSheps]

@amhn I have assigned this to you.

[jeremystretch]

member_count needs to be removed from NestedVirtualChassisSerializer

This is not quite correct. The member_count field is valid and necessary under the /api/dcim/virtual-chassis/, and we should not remove it. The issue identified under #9329 is its erroneous inclusion under other endpoints (e.g. /api/dcim/devices/) where the necessary data is not available. Solving for this requires the introduction of a second nested serializer for use in these cases.

However, we can work around this by instead caching the count of members on each VirtualChassis instance per #10197. As this approach avoids any potentially disruptive changes to the REST API while also resolving the root issue, I'm going to close this issue in favor of the caching approach.

[amhn]

@jeremystretch Providing the the member_count is surely the better solution and should be favored.

But as far as I understood what you describe is exactly what I implemented. The Endpoints in /api/dcim/virtual_chassis still provide member_count and it is only removed from the ones under /api/dcim/devices. Those are as far as I can see the only ones using NestedVirtualChassisSerializer.

I don't want to argue with you. Your solution of caching the member_count is surely the better solution for users of the API. Just want to learn what I misunderstood.

[jeremystretch]

Those are as far as I can see the only ones using NestedVirtualChassisSerializer.

As with all objects, the nested serializer is also used when using "brief" mode for the model endpoint (i.e. /api/dcim/virtual-chassis/?brief=true), so the field needs to stay.

[amhn]

Thank you for the clarification. That is what I suspected, but could not verify. Turns out I was using the wrong netbox instance.