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.

• URI-scheme: protocol used to send requests. All APIs use HTTPS.
• Endpoint: domain name or IP address of the server bearing the REST service endpoint. Endpoints vary depending on services and regions.
• resource-path: API access path. Obtain the path from the URI of an API. For example, resource-path of the API used to obtain a user token is /v3/auth/tokens.
• query-string: query parameters, which are optional. Ensure that a question mark (?) is included in front of each query parameter that is in the format of "Parameter name=Parameter value". For example, ? limit=10 indicates that up to 10 data records will be displayed.

For example, if you want to obtain an IAM token in CN North-Beijing1, use the endpoint of IAM (iam.cn-north-1.myhuaweicloud.com) for this region and resource-path (/v3/auth/tokens) in the URI of the API used to obtain a user token. Then, construct the URI as follows:

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

Request Methods

[Example]

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

• GET: requests the server to return specified resources.
• PUT: requests the server to update specified resources.
• POST: requests the server to add resources or perform special operations.
• DELETE: requests the server to delete specified resources, for example, an object.
• HEAD: requests the server to return the response header only.
• PATCH: requests the server to update partial content of a specified resource. If the resource is unavailable, the PATCH method is used to create a resource.

For example, in the URI for obtaining a user token, the request method is POST. The request is as follows:

POST https://iam.cn-north-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/tokens

Request Headers

[Example]

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

Common request headers are as follows:

• Content-Type: specifies the request body type or format. This field is mandatory and its default value is application/json. Other values of this field will be provided for specific APIs if any.
• X-Auth-Token: specifies a user token. This field is mandatory only when token-based authentication is used. The user token is a response to the API for obtaining a user token. This API is the only one that does not require authentication.
• X-Project-ID: specifies a subproject ID. This field is optional and can be used in multi-project scenarios.
• X-Domain-ID: specifies an account ID.

Since the API for obtaining a user token does not require authentication, you only need to include the Content-Type header in the request, as shown below:

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

Request Body

A request body is generally sent in structured format as specified in Content-Type. It transfers content except the request header. If the request body contains Chinese characters, these characters must be encoded in UTF-8.

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.

For the API used to obtain a user token, you can view request parameters and parameter description in the API request. The following provides an example request with a body included. Replace username, domainname, ******** (login password), and xxxxxxxxxx (project name) with the actual values. To learn how to obtain the project name, see "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.

Content-Type: application/json

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

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