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API Documentation

This is the primary API client to make API calls. It deals with constructing and executing XML-RPC calls against the SoftLayer API. Below are some links that will help to use the SoftLayer API.

>>> import SoftLayer
>>> client = SoftLayer.Client(username="username", api_key="api_key")
>>> resp = client['Account'].getObject()
>>> resp['companyName']
'Your Company'

Getting Started

You can pass in your username and api_key when creating a SoftLayer client instance. However, you can also set these in the environmental variables 'SL_USERNAME' and 'SL_API_KEY'.

Creating a client instance by passing in the username/api_key:

import SoftLayer
client = SoftLayer.Client(username='YOUR_USERNAME', api_key='YOUR_API_KEY')

Creating a client instance with environmental variables set:

$ export SL_USERNAME=YOUR_USERNAME
$ export SL_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
$ python
>>> import SoftLayer
>>> client = SoftLayer.Client()

Below is an example of creating a client instance with more options. This will create a client with the private API endpoint (only accessible from the SoftLayer private network) and a timeout of 4 minutes.

client = SoftLayer.Client(username='YOUR_USERNAME',
                          api_key='YOUR_API_KEY'
                          endpoint_url=SoftLayer.API_PRIVATE_ENDPOINT,
                          timeout=240)

Managers

For day-to-day operation, most users will find the managers to be the most convenient means for interacting with the API. Managers abstract a lot of the complexities of using the API into classes that provide a simpler interface to various services. These are higher-level interfaces to the SoftLayer API.

from SoftLayer import VSManager, Client
client = Client(...)
vs = VSManager(client)
vs.list_instances()
[...]

Available managers:

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :glob:

   managers/*

If you need more power or functionality than the managers provide, you can make direct API calls as well.

Making API Calls

For full control over your account and services, you can directly call the SoftLayer API. The SoftLayer API client for python leverages SoftLayer's XML-RPC API. It supports authentication, object masks, object filters, limits, offsets, and retrieving objects by id. The following section assumes you have an initialized client named 'client'.

The best way to test our setup is to call the getObject method on the SoftLayer_Account service.

client['Account'].getObject()

For a more complex example we'll retrieve a support ticket with id 123456 along with the ticket's updates, the user it's assigned to, the servers attached to it, and the datacenter those servers are in. To retrieve our extra information using an object mask.

Retrieve a ticket using object masks.

ticket = client['Ticket'].getObject(
    id=123456, mask="updates, assignedUser, attachedHardware.datacenter")

Now add an update to the ticket with Ticket.addUpdate. This uses a parameter, which translate to positional arguments in the order that they appear in the API docs.

update = client['Ticket'].addUpdate({'entry' : 'Hello!'}, id=123456)

Let's get a listing of virtual guests using the domain example.com

client['Account'].getVirtualGuests(
    filter={'virtualGuests': {'domain': {'operation': 'example.com'}}})

This call gets tickets created between the beginning of March 1, 2013 and March 15, 2013.

client['Account'].getTickets(
    filter={
        'tickets': {
            'createDate': {
                'operation': 'betweenDate',
                'options': [
                    {'name': 'startDate', 'value': ['03/01/2013 0:0:0']},
                    {'name': 'endDate', 'value': ['03/15/2013 23:59:59']}
                ]
            }
        }
    }
)

SoftLayer's XML-RPC API also allows for pagination.

client['Account'].getVirtualGuests(limit=10, offset=0)  # Page 1
client['Account'].getVirtualGuests(limit=10, offset=10)  # Page 2

Here's how to create a new Cloud Compute Instance using SoftLayer_Virtual_Guest.createObject. Be warned, this call actually creates an hourly virtual server so this will have billing implications.

client['Virtual_Guest'].createObject({
        'hostname': 'myhostname',
        'domain': 'example.com',
        'startCpus': 1,
        'maxMemory': 1024,
        'hourlyBillingFlag': 'true',
        'operatingSystemReferenceCode': 'UBUNTU_LATEST',
        'localDiskFlag': 'false'
    })

API Reference

.. autoclass:: SoftLayer.Client
   :members:
   :undoc-members:

   .. automethod:: SoftLayer.Client.__getitem__


.. autoclass:: SoftLayer.API.Service
   :members:
   :undoc-members:

   .. automethod:: SoftLayer.API.Service.__call__



.. automodule:: SoftLayer.exceptions
   :members:
   :undoc-members:

Backwards Compatibility

As of version 3.0 of the API bindings, the old API methods and parameters no longer work. Below are examples of converting old API calls to the new ones.

Get the IP address for an account

# Old
import SoftLayer.API
client = SoftLayer.API.Client('SoftLayer_Account', None, 'username', 'api_key')
client.set_object_mask({'ipAddresses' : None})
client.set_result_limit(10, offset=10)
client.getObject()

# New
import SoftLayer
client = SoftLayer.Client(username='username', api_key='api_key')
client['Account'].getObject(mask="ipAddresses", limit=10, offset=0)

Importing the module

# Old
import SoftLayer.API

# New
import SoftLayer

Creating a client instance

# Old
client = SoftLayer.API.Client('SoftLayer_Account', None, 'username', 'api_key')

# New
client = SoftLayer.Client(username='username', api_key='api_key')
service = client['Account']

Making an API call

# Old
client = SoftLayer.API.Client('SoftLayer_Account', None, 'username', 'api_key')
client.getObject()

# New
client = SoftLayer.Client(username='username', api_key='api_key')
client['Account'].getObject()

# Optionally
service = client['Account']
service.getObject()

Setting Object Mask

# Old
client.set_object_mask({'ipAddresses' : None})

# New
client['Account'].getObject(mask="ipAddresses")

Using Init Parameter

# Old
client.set_init_parameter(1234)

# New
client['Account'].getObject(id=1234)

Setting Result Limit and Offset

# Old
client.set_result_limit(10, offset=10)

# New
client['Account'].getObject(limit=10, offset=10)

Adding Additional Headers

# Old
# These headers are persisted accross API calls
client.add_header('header', 'value')

# New
# These headers are NOT persisted accross API calls
client['Account'].getObject(headers={'header': 'value'})

Removing Additional Headers

# Old
client.remove_header('header')

# New
client['Account'].getObject()

Adding Additional HTTP Headers

# Old
client.add_raw_header('header', 'value')

# New
client['Account'].getObject(raw_headers={'header': 'value'})

Changing Authentication Credentials

# Old
client.set_authentication('username', 'api_key')

# New
client.username = 'username'
client.api_key = 'api_key'