Updated on 2022-02-21 GMT+08:00

Making an API Request

This section describes the structure of a REST API request, and uses the IAM API for obtaining a user token as an example to demonstrate how to call an API. The obtained token can then be used to authenticate the calling of other APIs.

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.

Table 1 URI parameters

Parameter

Description

URI-scheme

Protocol used to transmit requests. All APIs use HTTPS.

Endpoint

Domain name or IP address of the server bearing the REST service. The endpoint varies between services in different regions.

resource-path

Access path of an API for performing a specified operation. Obtain the path from the URI of an API. For example, the resource-path of the API used to obtain a user token is /v3/auth/tokens.

query-string

Query parameter, which is optional. Ensure that a question mark (?) is included before each query parameter that is in the format of Parameter name=Parameter value. For example, ?limit=10 indicates that a maximum of 10 data records will be displayed. Use ampersands (&) to separate multiple query parameters.

For example, you have obtained the endpoint (iam.xxx.com) of a region and found resource-path (/v3/auth/tokens) in the URI of the API that is used to obtain a user token. The following is an example:

https://iam.xxx.com/v3/auth/tokens

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:

Table 2 HTTP-based methods

Method

Description

GET

Requests a server to provide a specified resource.

PUT

Requests a server to update a specified resource.

POST

Requests a server to add resources or perform special operations.

DELETE

Requests a server to delete a specified resource, for example, an object.

HEAD

Requests a server resource 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.

For example, in the case of the API used to obtain a user token, the request method is POST. The request is as follows:

POST https://iam.xxx.com/v3/auth/tokens

Request Headers

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 3 describes common request headers.

Table 3 Common request headers

Name

Description

Mandatory

Example Value

Content-Type

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type of a request body. Its default value is application/json. Other values of this field will be provided for specific APIs if any.

Yes

application/json

X-Project-Id

Project ID. Obtain the project ID by following the instructions in Obtaining a Project ID.

No

This field is mandatory for requests that use AK/SK authentication in the Dedicated Cloud (DeC) scenario or multi-project scenario.

e9993fc787d**********aa340f9c0f4

X-Auth-Token

User token.

The user token is a response to the API used to obtain a user token. This API is the only one that does not require authentication.

After the request is processed, the value of X-Subject-Token in the message header is the token value.

No

This field is mandatory for token authentication.

The following is part of an example token:

MIIPAgYJKoZIhvcNAQcCo...ggg1BBIINPXsidG9rZ

In addition to supporting token-based authentication, APIs also support authentication using access key ID/secret access key (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.

The API used to obtain 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:

POST https://iam.xxx.com/v3/auth/tokens
Content-Type: application/json

Request Body

The body of a request is often sent in a structured format (for example, JSON or XML) as specified in the Content-Type header field. The request body transfers content except the request header.

The 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 to obtain a user token, the request parameters and parameter 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 ID) with the actual values. To learn how to obtain a project ID, see Obtaining a Project ID.

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.xxx.com/v3/auth/tokens
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "auth": {
        "identity": {
            "methods": [
                "password"
            ],
            "password": {
                "user": {
                    "name": "username",
                    "password": "********",
                    "domain": {
                        "name": "domainname"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "scope": {
            "project": {
                "id": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
            }
        }
    }
}

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