openDCIM has a RESTful API interface which can be accessed by other applications.
Development of the API is happening in stages, and as such this specification is subject to change. If you are unfamiliar with what a RESTful API is, a good place to start is the Wikipedia Entry.
Contents
Data Format
openDCIM data will always be returned in JSON format, with no pagination. This is open source, so if you need your output in another format, such as XML, you can modify the appropriate function in the application.
The JSON data is returned in the following format:
{
- error: true or false,
- errorcode: 200, if operation was a success; other dependent upon reason for failure
- resultsetname (Varies depending upon request)
- [{ data }]
}
Authentication
RESTful APIs by definition are stateless, but do still need some form of authentication. It is suggested that you create a separate account for the API to use, rather than piggy-backing off of an existing user account.
At a minimum, the account created for the API must have Global Read Access. Working with the inner guts of openDCIM will certainly increase the risk of data corruption, so it's not something that should be opened up lightly.
Base URI
Depending on how you implement your website, this may vary, but most would take on the format of:
https://myurl/api/v1 (for Version 1 of the API)
All definitions listed below will assume that they are added on to the base URI. For example, to get a list of all devices, the full URI would be https://myurl/api/v1/devices
Conventions
When listing a URI for an API call, there may occasionally be a word with a leading colon (:). This indicates that it is a parameter to be passed within the URL.
- Example :deviceid would be the indication to substitute the last portion of the URL with a valid DeviceID
Collections
Collections of data are defined by requests which may return more than a single entity. Below are the defined interfaces. All of these are read-only.
People
- /people
- Method GET
- Parameters none
This URI will return a collection of all people defined within openDCIM. There is a corresponding Entity URL for retrieving a single entity.
- /people/bydepartment/:departmentid
- Method GET
- Parameters departmentid
This URI will return a collection of all people (if any) that are members of the given department. Note that people can be members of multiple departments.
Data Centers
- /datacenter
- Method GET
- Parameters none
This URI will return a collection of all data centers defined within openDCIM. There is a corresponding Entity URL for retrieving a single entity.
Elements
Elements are API requests where a single entity is acted upon. As these are always acting upon just one tuple of the database, some of the API calls may be for creating, updating, or deleting data.
People
- /people/:personid
- Method GET
- Parameters personid
This URI will return a single row matching the specified personid if it exists within the database, or an error if not found.