Variable Configuration Object

Manages variable resources with flexible typing and container associations in Palo Alto Networks Strata Cloud Manager.

Class Overview

The Variable class provides CRUD operations for variable resources used to define reusable values that can be referenced across configurations.

Methods

Method	Description	Parameters	Return Type
create()	Creates a new variable	data: Dict[str, Any]	VariableResponseModel
get()	Retrieves a variable by ID	variable_id: Union[str, UUID]	VariableResponseModel
update()	Updates an existing variable	variable: VariableUpdateModel	VariableResponseModel
delete()	Deletes a variable	variable_id: Union[str, UUID]	None
list()	Lists variables with filtering	**filters	List[VariableResponseModel]
fetch()	Gets a variable by its name	name: str, folder: str	VariableResponseModel

Model Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
name	str	Yes	None	Name of the variable. Max length: 63 chars
type	str	Yes	None	Variable type (see Variable Types below)
value	str	Yes	None	Value of the variable
id	UUID	Yes*	None	Unique identifier (*response/update only)
description	str	No	None	Optional description
folder	str	No**	None	Folder in which the variable is defined. Max: 64 chars
snippet	str	No**	None	Snippet in which the variable is defined. Max: 64 chars
device	str	No**	None	Device in which the variable is defined. Max: 64 chars
overridden	bool	No	None	Whether the variable is overridden (response only)
labels	List[str]	No	None	Optional list of labels (response only)

* Only required for response and update models ** Exactly one of folder, snippet, or device must be provided

Variable Types

Type	Description
percent	Percentage value
count	Count/number value
ip-netmask	IP address with subnet mask
zone	Security zone
ip-range	IP address range
ip-wildcard	IP wildcard mask
device-priority	Device priority value
device-id	Device identifier
egress-max	Maximum egress value
as-number	AS number
fqdn	Fully qualified domain name
port	Port number
link-tag	Link tag
group-id	Group identifier
rate	Rate value
router-id	Router identifier
qos-profile	QoS profile
timer	Timer value

Exceptions

Exception	HTTP Code	Description
InvalidObjectError	400	Invalid variable data or format
ObjectNotPresentError	404	Requested variable not found
APIError	Various	General API communication error
AuthenticationError	401	Authentication failed
ServerError	500	Internal server error

Basic Configuration

from scm.client import Scm

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

variables = client.variable

Methods

List Variables

all_variables = client.variable.list()

for var in all_variables:
    print(f"Variable: {var.name}, Type: {var.type}, Value: {var.value}")

Filtering responses:

# Filter by type (client-side)
ip_variables = client.variable.list(type="ip-netmask")

# Filter by labels (client-side)
labeled_variables = client.variable.list(labels=["network"])

# Filter by parent folder (client-side)
folder_variables = client.variable.list(parent="department-a")

# Filter by snippet (client-side)
snippet_variables = client.variable.list(snippets=["security-snippet"])

Controlling pagination with max_limit:

client.variable.max_limit = 100

all_variables = client.variable.list()

Fetch a Variable

variable = client.variable.fetch(name="subnet-variable", folder="department-a")
if variable:
    print(f"Found variable: {variable.name}, Value: {variable.value}")

Create a Variable

# Variable associated with a folder
variable_data = {
    "name": "subnet-variable",
    "type": "ip-netmask",
    "value": "192.168.1.0/24",
    "description": "Network subnet for department A",
    "folder": "department-a"
}
created = client.variable.create(variable_data)

# Variable associated with a snippet
snippet_variable = {
    "name": "snippet-var",
    "type": "port",
    "value": "8080",
    "snippet": "web-servers"
}
client.variable.create(snippet_variable)

# Variable associated with a device
device_variable = {
    "name": "device-var",
    "type": "ip-netmask",
    "value": "10.0.0.1/32",
    "device": "001122334455"
}
client.variable.create(device_variable)

Update a Variable

existing = client.variable.fetch(name="subnet-variable", folder="department-a")

existing.value = "10.0.0.0/16"
existing.description = "Updated network subnet"

updated = client.variable.update(existing)

Delete a Variable

client.variable.delete("12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012")

Get a Variable by ID

variable = client.variable.get("12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012")
print(f"Variable: {variable.name}, Type: {variable.type}, Value: {variable.value}")

Error Handling

from scm.exceptions import ObjectNotPresentError, InvalidObjectError

try:
    variable = client.variable.get("nonexistent-id")
except ObjectNotPresentError:
    print("Variable not found!")

try:
    # Missing required container (folder, snippet, or device)
    client.variable.create({
        "name": "invalid-var",
        "type": "ip-netmask",
        "value": "192.168.1.0/24"
    })
except InvalidObjectError as e:
    print(f"Validation error: {e}")

Related Topics

• Variable Models
• Setup Overview
• API Client