URL Categories Configuration Object

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Core Methods
3. URL Category Model Attributes
4. Exceptions
5. Basic Configuration
6. Usage Examples
   • Creating URL Categories
   • Retrieving URL Categories
   • Updating URL Categories
   • Listing URL Categories
   • Filtering Responses
   • Controlling Pagination with max_limit
   • Deleting URL Categories
7. Managing Configuration Changes
   • Performing Commits
   • Monitoring Jobs
8. Error Handling
9. Best Practices
10. Full Script Examples
11. Related Models

Overview

The URLCategories class provides functionality to manage URL category objects in Palo Alto Networks' Strata Cloud Manager. This class inherits from BaseObject and provides methods for creating, retrieving, updating, and deleting custom URL categories that can be used in security policies and profiles.

Core Methods

Method	Description	Parameters	Return Type
create()	Creates a new URL category	data: Dict[str, Any]	URLCategoriesResponseModel
get()	Retrieves a category by ID	object_id: str	URLCategoriesResponseModel
update()	Updates an existing category	profile: URLCategoriesUpdateModel	URLCategoriesResponseModel
delete()	Deletes a category	object_id: str	None
list()	Lists categories with filtering	folder: str, **filters	List[URLCategoriesResponseModel]
fetch()	Gets category by name	name: str, folder: str	URLCategoriesResponseModel

URL Category Model Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
name	str	Yes	Name of URL category
id	UUID	Yes*	Unique identifier (*response only)
list	List[str]	Yes	List of URLs or patterns
type	Enum	No	Category type (URL List/Category Match)
description	str	No	Category description
folder	str	Yes**	Folder location (**one container required)
snippet	str	Yes**	Snippet location (**one container required)
device	str	Yes**	Device location (**one container required)

Exceptions

Exception	HTTP Code	Description
InvalidObjectError	400	Invalid category data or format
MissingQueryParameterError	400	Missing required parameters
NameNotUniqueError	409	Category name already exists
ObjectNotPresentError	404	Category not found
ReferenceNotZeroError	409	Category still referenced
AuthenticationError	401	Authentication failed
ServerError	500	Internal server error

Basic Configuration

from scm.client import Scm

# Initialize client
client = Scm(
    client_id="your_client_id",
    client_secret="your_client_secret",
    tsg_id="your_tsg_id"
)

# Access URL categories directly through the client
# No need to initialize a separate URLCategories object

Usage Examples

Creating URL Categories

# URL List category configuration
url_list_config = {
    "name": "blocked_sites",
    "type": "URL List",
    "list": ["example.com", "test.com"],
    "description": "Blocked websites list",
    "folder": "Texas"
}

# Create URL List category using the client
url_list = client.url_category.create(url_list_config)

# Category Match configuration
category_match_config = {
    "name": "social_media",
    "type": "Category Match",
    "list": ["social-networking", "personal-sites-and-blogs"],
    "description": "Social media categories",
    "folder": "Texas"
}

# Create Category Match category
category_match = client.url_category.create(category_match_config)

Retrieving URL Categories

# Fetch by name and folder
category = client.url_category.fetch(name="blocked_sites", folder="Texas")
print(f"Found category: {category.name}")

# Get by ID
category_by_id = client.url_category.get(category.id)
print(f"Retrieved category: {category_by_id.name}")
print(f"URL list: {category_by_id.list}")

Updating URL Categories

# Fetch existing category
existing_category = client.url_category.fetch(name="blocked_sites", folder="Texas")

# Update URL list
existing_category.list.extend(["newsite.com", "anothersite.com"])
existing_category.description = "Updated blocked websites list"

# Perform update
updated_category = client.url_category.update(existing_category)

Listing URL Categories

# List with direct filter parameters
filtered_categories = client.url_category.list(
    folder='Texas',
    members=['example.com']
)

# Process results
for category in filtered_categories:
    print(f"Name: {category.name}")
    print(f"Type: {category.type}")
    print(f"URLs: {category.list}")

# Define filter parameters as dictionary
list_params = {
    "folder": "Texas",
    "members": ["social-networking"]
}

# List with filters as kwargs
filtered_categories = client.url_category.list(**list_params)

Filtering Responses

The list() method supports additional parameters to refine your query results even further. Alongside basic filters (like types, values, and tags), you can leverage the exact_match, exclude_folders, exclude_snippets, and exclude_devices parameters to control which objects are included or excluded after the initial API response is fetched.

Parameters:

• exact_match (bool): When True, only objects defined exactly in the specified container (folder, snippet, or device) are returned.
• exclude_folders (List[str]): Provide a list of folder names to exclude.
• exclude_snippets (List[str]): Provide a list of snippet values to exclude.
• exclude_devices (List[str]): Provide a list of device values to exclude.

Examples:

# Only return url_category defined exactly in 'Texas'
exact_url_categories = client.url_category.list(
    folder='Texas',
    exact_match=True
)

for app in exact_url_categories:
    print(f"Exact match: {app.name} in {app.folder}")

# Exclude all url_categories from the 'All' folder
no_all_url_categories = client.url_category.list(
    folder='Texas',
    exclude_folders=['All']
)

for app in no_all_url_categories:
    assert app.folder != 'All'
    print(f"Filtered out 'All': {app.name}")

# Exclude url_categories that come from 'default' snippet
no_default_snippet = client.url_category.list(
    folder='Texas',
    exclude_snippets=['default']
)

for app in no_default_snippet:
    assert app.snippet != 'default'
    print(f"Filtered out 'default' snippet: {app.name}")

# Exclude url_categories associated with 'DeviceA'
no_deviceA = client.url_category.list(
    folder='Texas',
    exclude_devices=['DeviceA']
)

for app in no_deviceA:
    assert app.device != 'DeviceA'
    print(f"Filtered out 'DeviceA': {app.name}")

# Combine exact_match with multiple exclusions
combined_filters = client.url_category.list(
    folder='Texas',
    exact_match=True,
    exclude_folders=['All'],
    exclude_snippets=['default'],
    exclude_devices=['DeviceA']
)

for app in combined_filters:
    print(f"Combined filters result: {app.name} in {app.folder}")

Controlling Pagination with max_limit

The SDK supports pagination through the max_limit parameter, which defines how many objects are retrieved per API call. By default, max_limit is set to 2500. The API itself imposes a maximum allowed value of 5000. If you set max_limit higher than 5000, it will be capped to the API's maximum. The list() method will continue to iterate through all objects until all results have been retrieved. Adjusting max_limit can help manage retrieval performance and memory usage when working with large datasets.

# Initialize the client with a custom max_limit for URL categories
# This will retrieve up to 4321 objects per API call, up to the API limit of 5000.
client = Scm(
    client_id="your_client_id",
    client_secret="your_client_secret",
    tsg_id="your_tsg_id",
    url_categories_max_limit=4321
)

# Now when we call list(), it will use the specified max_limit for each request
# while auto-paginating through all available objects.
all_categories = client.url_category.list(folder='Texas')

# 'all_categories' contains all objects from 'Texas', fetched in chunks of up to 4321 at a time.

Deleting URL Categories

# Delete by ID
category_id = "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000"
client.url_category.delete(category_id)

Managing Configuration Changes

Performing Commits

# Prepare commit parameters
commit_params = {
    "folders": ["Texas"],
    "description": "Updated URL categories",
    "sync": True,
    "timeout": 300  # 5 minute timeout
}

# Commit the changes directly using the client
result = client.commit(**commit_params)

print(f"Commit job ID: {result.job_id}")

Monitoring Jobs

# Get status of specific job using the client
job_status = client.get_job_status(result.job_id)
print(f"Job status: {job_status.data[0].status_str}")

# List recent jobs using the client
recent_jobs = client.list_jobs(limit=10)
for job in recent_jobs.data:
    print(f"Job {job.id}: {job.type_str} - {job.status_str}")

Error Handling

from scm.exceptions import (
    InvalidObjectError,
    MissingQueryParameterError,
    NameNotUniqueError,
    ObjectNotPresentError,
    ReferenceNotZeroError
)

try:
    # Create category configuration
    category_config = {
        "name": "test_category",
        "type": "URL List",
        "list": ["example.com", "test.com"],
        "folder": "Texas",
        "description": "Test URL category"
    }

    # Create the category using the client
    new_category = client.url_category.create(category_config)

    # Commit changes using the client
    result = client.commit(
        folders=["Texas"],
        description="Added test category",
        sync=True
    )

    # Check job status using the client
    status = client.get_job_status(result.job_id)

except InvalidObjectError as e:
    print(f"Invalid category data: {e.message}")
except NameNotUniqueError as e:
    print(f"Category name already exists: {e.message}")
except ObjectNotPresentError as e:
    print(f"Category not found: {e.message}")
except ReferenceNotZeroError as e:
    print(f"Category still in use: {e.message}")
except MissingQueryParameterError as e:
    print(f"Missing parameter: {e.message}")

Best Practices

1. URL List Management

   • Use descriptive category names
   • Group related URLs together
   • Validate URL patterns before adding
   • Keep lists manageable in size
   • Document category purposes

2. Container Management

   • Always specify exactly one container (folder, snippet, or device)
   • Use consistent container names
   • Validate container existence
   • Group related categories

3. Client Usage

   • Use the unified client interface (client.url_category) for simpler code
   • Perform commits directly on the client (client.commit())
   • Monitor jobs using client methods (client.get_job_status(), client.list_jobs())
   • Initialize the client once and reuse across different object types

4. Category Types

   • Choose appropriate type (URL List vs Category Match)
   • Validate category match patterns
   • Consider URL resolution impact
   • Document type selection rationale

5. Performance

   • Use appropriate pagination
   • Cache frequently accessed categories
   • Implement proper retry logic
   • Monitor URL resolution times

6. Security

   • Follow least privilege principle
   • Validate input URLs
   • Use secure connection settings
   • Monitor category usage

Full Script Examples

Refer to the url_categories.py example.

Related Models

• URLCategoriesCreateModel
• URLCategoriesUpdateModel
• URLCategoriesResponseModel