# Simple Ember Data setup problems
**URL:** https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/simple-ember-data-setup-problems/7344
**Category:** Ember Data
**Created:** [February 17, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/simple-ember-data-setup-problems/7344 "2015-02-17T22:52:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mithrilhall](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/Mithrilhall)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/simple-ember-data-setup-problems/7344/1 "2015-02-17T22:52:54Z")
I’m trying out Ember Data for the first time and I can’t seem to get it to work.
I have an API written in NodeJS ([http://localhost:3002](http://localhost:3002)) where I can return a collection of states ([http://localhost:3002/states](http://localhost:3002/states)).
In my states route I have:
```
model: function() {
return this.store.find('states');
}
```
[http://localhost:3002/states](http://localhost:3002/states) returns json formatted similar to this when tested with Postman:
```
[
{
"_id": "33dc0aecde4be108724cd5fz",
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA",
"cities": [
{
"name": "Modesto"
},
{
"name": "Fresno"
}
]
},
{
"_id": "34dc0afcde4be108724cd5fb",
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL",
"cities": [
{
"name": "Tallahassee"
},
{
"name": "Orlando"
}
]
}
]
```
This is what I’m currently seeing in the console in Chrome:
Do I need an adapter, model and serializer? If a model is required…how do I format a model for states that is an array of ‘state’?
---
### Author:  [@atsjj](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/atsjj)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/simple-ember-data-setup-problems/7344/2 "2015-02-18T00:46:55Z")
The default adapter used in Ember CLI is the `RESTAdapter`. This adapter will work with the following example output:
```auto
{
"posts": [
{
"id": 1,
"name": "Post 1"
},
{
"id": 2,
"name": "Post 2"
}
]
}
```
The problem you’re having with your current JSON is that the objects are anonymous. The fixed output (below) would work at minimum:
```auto
{
"states": [
{
"_id": "33dc0aecde4be108724cd5fz",
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA",
"cities": [
{
"name": "Modesto"
},
{
"name": "Fresno"
}
]
},
{
"_id": "34dc0afcde4be108724cd5fb",
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL",
"cities": [
{
"name": "Tallahassee"
},
{
"name": "Orlando"
}
]
}
]
}
```
Finally, you would need to override the `application-serializer` **unless** you rename your `_id` field to `id`. Here is how you would do that:
_Ember CLI example would be created at app/serializers/application.js_
```auto
import DS from 'ember-data';
export default DS.RESTSerializer.extend({
primaryKey: '_id'
});
```
This alone would allow you to get up and running. Where you will experience further problems is with the embedded records seen in your JSONs `cities` field. It’s best that your `state` model uses just an empty `DS.attr()` value for that particular property.
Hope this helps!
---
### Author:  [@Mithrilhall](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/Mithrilhall)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/simple-ember-data-setup-problems/7344/3 "2015-02-18T03:45:06Z")
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll make some changes and see how it goes.