REST APIs

The IBM® Security Guardium® Key Lifecycle Manager Representational State Transfer (REST) API provides access to the IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager server functions. You can use HTTP methods to implement the REST architecture-based REST APIs.

Overview

REST APIs are intended to be used by a client script or program to interact with and control the IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager server from a remote computer. With the APIs, you can perform most tasks that you can currently complete by using the graphical user interface or command-line interface.

Based on the purpose and user persona that uses the IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager REST APIs, they can be categorized as follows:
Administrative REST APIs
Includes REST APIs to administer, configure, and manage IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager.
Users with the Administrator user role (For example, SKLMAdmin) use these REST APIs.
Key serving and management REST APIs
Cloud applications or clients that need to use keys and other cryptographic objects from IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager use these REST APIs to communicate with the IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager server.
Users with the klmClientUser role use these REST APIs. For more information, see

Request format

The IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager REST API request consists of the following parts:
URL
The URL that hosts the RESTful web service.
HTTP method
The REST API uses the following HTTP methods to run various actions on IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager resources:
GET
Lists the specified resource or collection of resources.
POST
Creates the specified resource.
PUT
Updates or replaces the specified resource.
DELETE
Removes the specified resource.
Request header
The attributes that describe the request to set up the response format.
Request body
More information that is used to process the request. You must pass parameters as JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) object in the request body.

Response format

IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager supports the JSON response format of the REST APIs. The response contains two main components:
Response header
A list of attributes that describes the response format, and includes an HTTP response code.
Response body
The data that represents the resource that you requested or an error message.
Notes:
  • For an IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager REST request message:
    • If you pass duplicate parameters in a JSON request body, the last repeated parameter is processed by the server.
    • If you pass duplicate parameters as query parameters in the URL, the first repeated parameter is processed by the server.
  • All references to the alias property of cryptographic keys and certificates in the graphical user interface, command-line interface, and REST interface will be deprecated in a later version of IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager.

Swagger UI: Display framework to try out REST APIs

IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager is integrated with Swagger UI, an interface to try out the REST APIs. You can use Swagger UI from any browser and you do not need any programming effort.

For more information, see Using Swagger UI.