Basic concepts

Representational State Transfer (REST) is a style for creating distributed web applications. When applied to the design of a web services API, it establishes a set of technologies and best practices for exposing server-based resources and managing their states. The BlueXP platform REST APIs use mainstream protocols and standards to provide a flexible foundation for deploying and administering your cloud-based resources.

Note While REST establishes a common set of technologies and best practices, the details of each API can vary based on the design choices of the development team. See the reference for the API you plan to use.

Overview of the API resources

The REST style of application development begins by identifying the set of server-based resources. Considering the Cloud Volumes ONTAP API as an example, the resources are broadly categorized as follows:

  • Administrative resources

    Used to set up and configure BlueXP

  • Auditing resources

    Used to view details about BlueXP activities and operations

  • Authentication resources

    Used to authenticate to BlueXP so you can make API calls

  • Working environment resources

    Used to deploy and manage working environments, including: single Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems, Cloud Volumes ONTAP HA configurations, and ONTAP clusters

REST endpoints

REST resources are accessed through endpoints identified in the URL path. Each endpoint provides access to one of the following:

  • Resource instance

  • Collection of resource instances

Types of input parameters

There are several types of parameters available with the BlueXP platform APIs with each request.

Type Description

Path parameter

Identifiers or names for resource instances that are included in the URL path.

Query parameter

One or more key-value pairs at the end of the URL which qualify and extend the base call.

Request header

Key-value pairs in the request which carry additional information available to the server.

Body parameter

Data which is optionally included with a request and formatted using JSON.