Making an API Request

Request URI

A request URI is in the following format:

{URI-scheme}://{Endpoint}/{resource-path}?{query-string}

Although a request URI is included in the request header, most programming languages or frameworks require the request URI to be transmitted separately.

For example, to obtain an IAM token in the ae-ad-1 region, obtain the endpoint of IAM (iam.ae-ad-1.myhuaweicloud.com) for this region and the resource-path (/v3/auth/tokens) in the URI of the API used for obtaining a user token. Then, construct the URI as follows:

1

https://iam.ae-ad-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens

Figure 1 Example URI

To simplify the URI display in this document, each API is provided only with a resource-path and a request method. The URI-scheme of all APIs is HTTPS, and the endpoints of all APIs in the same region are identical.

Request Methods

The HTTP protocol defines the following request methods that can be used to send a request to the server:

• GET: requests a server to return specified resources.
• PUT: requests a server to update specified resources.
• POST: requests a server to add resources or perform special operations.
• DELETE: requests a server to delete specified resources, for example, objects.
• HEAD: same as GET except that the server must return only the response header.
• PATCH: requests a server to update a part of a specified resource. If the resource does not exist, a new resource can be created using the PATCH method.

In the URI of the API for creating an IAM user, the request method is POST, so the request is:

1

POST https://iam.ae-ad-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens

Request Header

You can also add additional header fields to a request, such as the fields required by a specified URI or HTTP method. For example, to request for the authentication information, add Content-Type, which specifies the request body type.

Table 2 lists the common request header fields.

In addition to supporting token-based authentication, cloud service APIs also support authentication using the AK/SK. During AK/SK-based authentication, an SDK is used to sign the request, and the Authorization (signature information) and X-Sdk-Date (time when the request is sent) header fields are automatically added to the request.

For more information, see "AK/SK-based Authentication" in Authentication.

The API used for obtaining a user token does not require authentication. Therefore, only the Content-Type field needs to be added to requests for calling the API. An example of such requests is as follows:

1
2

POST https://iam.ae-ad-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens
Content-Type: application/json

Request Body (Optional)

The body of a request is often sent in a structured format as specified in the Content-type header field, such as JSON or XML. The request body transfers content except the request header.

A request body varies between APIs. Some APIs do not require the request body, such as the APIs requested using the GET and DELETE methods.

In the case of the API used for obtaining a user token, the required parameter and description can be obtained from the API request. The following provides an example request with a body included. Replace username, domainname, ******** (login password), and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (project name) with the actual values The project name can be obtained from Regions and Endpoints.

The scope parameter specifies where a token takes effect. You can set scope to an account or a project under an account. In the following example, the token takes effect only for the resources in a specified project. For more information about this API, see Obtaining a User Token.

POST https://iam.ae-ad-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "auth": {
        "identity": {
            "methods": [
                "password"
            ],
            "password": {
                "user": {
                    "name": "username",
                    "password": $ADMIN_PASS,    //For security purposes, you are advised to store the password in ciphertext in the configuration file or environment variable.
                    "domain": {
                        "name": "domainname"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "scope": {
            "project": {
                "name": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
            }
        }
    }
}

If all data required by a request is available, you can send the request to call the API through curl, Postman, or coding. In the response to the API used for obtaining a user token, x-subject-token is the desired user token. This token can then be used to authenticate the calling of other APIs.