Dell Unity™ Family Unisphere® Management REST API Programmer's Guide

The Unisphere Management REST API

The Unisphere Management REST API is a set of objects (resources), operations, and attributes that let you interact with Unisphere Management functionality through web browsers and application programs. You can use the REST API to do all of the following:

• Configure system settings for the storage system.
• Manage the connections to remote systems, including manage host configurations, iSCSI initiators, and iSCSI CHAP accounts.
• Configure network communication, including manage NAS Servers and set up iSNS for iSCSI storage.
• Manage storage, including configure storage pools and manage file systems, iSCSI, VMware, and Hyper-V storage resources.
• Protect data, including manage snapshots and replication sessions.
• Manage events and alerts.
• Service the system, including change the service password, manage EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) settings, and browse service contract and technical advisory information.

For more information about Unisphere Management REST API functionality, see the Unisphere Management REST API Reference Guide, which is available from the storage system at https://<ip>/apidocs/index.html and is also available on the support website.

The Unisphere Management API uses a Representational State Transfer (REST) architecture style to expose data. REST is a common approach in today's IT management products and a frequent choice for many web-based APIs. Using a REST API provides the following advantages:

• Presents a single, consistent interface to the Unisphere Management functionality.
• Requires no additional tools, other than standard web browsers or command-line HTTP tools, such as wGET and cURL. For complex interactions, clients can use any procedural programming language, such as C++ or Java, or scripting language, such as Perl or Python, to make calls to the REST API.
• Uses well known HTTP conventions in a standard manner to interact with the storage system.
• Is easy to transport in the network. REST API traffic looks and acts like standard HTTP network traffic, and requires no special ports open in the firewall or special settings in the switches.