Integration Overview

Overview of OpenAPI Explorer

OpenAPI Explorer lets you search, debug, and call API operations for Alibaba Cloud services. It provides intelligent search, documentation, online debugging, SDK sample code generation, error diagnostics, and call statistics. What is an API?

Versions

API Gateway uses API version 2016-07-14. The label 2016-07-14 is a version identifier, not a date — API operations are continuously updated beyond 2016-07-14.

Online API debugging

Use OpenAPI Explorer to debug API Gateway operations. Before you call an operation, note the API version, endpoint, style, and call method.

In the parameter form, select a service address such as China (Hangzhou) and enter the required parameters: ChargeType (PostPaid or PrePaid), InstanceName, InstanceSpec (for example, api.s1.small), HttpsPolicy, and Token. Optionally, configure ZoneId, Duration, PricingCycle (yearly or monthly), and AutoPay. Click Initiate Call.

Debugging page

Go to API Gateway Debugging to debug the API.

Endpoints

Select an endpoint in the same region as your resource to reduce latency. For example, for China (Hangzhou), use apigateway.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com for Internet access or apigateway-vpc.cn-hangzhou-finance.aliyuncs.com for VPC access.

• Internet endpoints are accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection.

• VPC endpoints are accessible only within the specified VPC. Benefits:

  • Higher security: traffic stays within the VPC, ensuring privacy.

  • Faster response: internal routing avoids public Internet latency and bandwidth limits.

  • Lower cost: internal access eliminates Internet data transfer fees.

Service endpoints.

API style

API Gateway uses the RPC (remote procedure call) style, as described in Request syntax and signature method V2 for RPC APIs.

Identity

OpenAPI Explorer uses your Alibaba Cloud account for debugging by default. Because an Alibaba Cloud account has full API permissions, we recommend using a RAM user for routine operations. The RAM user must have the permissions to manage Cloud Backup resources. Create a RAM user and authorize the RAM user to access Cloud Backup.

References

• Identity, credential, and authorization

• Throttling and quota management

Integration methods

API Gateway supports the following integration methods: Alibaba Cloud SDKs, CLI, Resource Orchestration Service (ROS), Terraform, and custom HTTP encapsulation.

• Alibaba Cloud SDKs

  • Alibaba Cloud provides SDKs for Java, C#, Go, Python, Node.js, TypeScript, PHP, and C++. SDKs handle signature logic, timeouts, and retries, and provide typed request and response objects. Alibaba Cloud SDKs.

  • You can also use Domain Names SDKs to call operations. Example of using an SDK for Java.

• Alibaba Cloud CLI

  Alibaba Cloud CLI lets you run aliyun commands to manage cloud resources from the terminal. What is Alibaba Cloud CLI?

• ROS

  ROS automates cloud resource provisioning through templates. Define the resources you need — such as ECS and ApsaraDB RDS instances — and ROS creates and configures them automatically. What is ROS?.

• Terraform

  Terraform is an open-source infrastructure-as-code tool that manages cloud resources through templates, similar to ROS. What is Terraform?

• Custom encapsulation

  For native HTTP calls, implement the signature algorithm and build the request. API overview and Request body and signature mechanism (V3).

Usage notes

• If an API call fails, check the returned error code against your request parameters and values. Error codes.

• For self-service diagnostics, use the OpenAPI problem diagnosis tool with the RequestID or SDK error message.