Integration overview

API overview

Alibaba Cloud OpenAPI lets developers programmatically access and manage cloud services. OpenAPI Explorer provides intelligent search, documentation, online debugging, SDK downloads, sample code, error diagnosis, and call statistics for all Alibaba Cloud APIs. What is an API?

Versions

OpenAPI Explorer supports online debugging for the 2018-01-20 API version. This is a version identifier, not a date — OpenAPI Explorer covers all latest public APIs. API version.

Version number	Description
2018-01-20	The recommended version.

Online debugging

Debug IoT Platform APIs in OpenAPI Explorer. Before you start, review the API version, endpoints, and request parameters.

In OpenAPI Explorer, select the QueryProduct API, set Service Address to China (Beijing), configure IotInstanceId (optional) and ProductKey (required), and click Initiate Call.

Online debugging page

API debugging portal: Debug IoT Platform APIs.

Endpoints

Endpoints are access points for Alibaba Cloud services. IoT Platform provides public endpoints and Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) endpoints.

• Public endpoints are globally accessible.

• VPC endpoints are accessible only within a VPC in a specific region. Benefits:

  • Higher security and privacy through VPC-only access.

  • Faster responses through the internal network, avoiding public network latency and bandwidth limits.

  • Lower cost by eliminating public bandwidth charges.

Select the endpoint nearest to your users or business to minimize latency. For example, choose China (Hangzhou) if most users are in Hangzhou.

IoT Platform endpoints are listed in Regions.

User identities

OpenAPI Explorer uses your Alibaba Cloud account for debugging by default. Because the root account has full API permissions, we recommend using a RAM user for API calls and routine O&M. Grant the RAM user the required IoT Platform permissions before use. Mapping between IoT Platform API operations and RAM policies.

Identity	Supported
Alibaba Cloud account	Yes
RAM user (recommended)	Yes
RAM role (recommended)	Yes

References

• Identity, credential, and authorization

• Throttling and quota management

Integration methods

Integration method	Supported
Alibaba Cloud SDKs	Yes
Alibaba Cloud CLI	Yes
Terraform	Partially supported
ROS	Partially supported
Custom API encapsulation	Yes

• Alibaba Cloud SDKs

  • Alibaba Cloud SDKs are available in 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.

  • To call IoT Platform APIs, install theIoT Platform SDK for your preferred language.

• Alibaba Cloud CLI

  • Alibaba Cloud CLI lets you run the aliyun command to manage cloud resources. What is Alibaba Cloud CLI?

  • Call IoT Platform API operations through Alibaba Cloud CLI. User guide of Alibaba Cloud CLI.

• Terraform

  • Terraform is an open-source infrastructure-as-code tool that manages cloud resources through declarative templates. What is Terraform?

  • Terraform supports the following IoT Platform resources and data sources.

    Type	List	Description
    Resource	alicloud_iot_device_group	Manages device groups.
    Data source	alicloud_iot_device_groups	Lists all device groups in the current account.
    	alicloud_iot_service	Activates IoT Platform. Returns the On state if already active.

• ROS

  • ROS automates cloud resource provisioning through templates. Define resources such as ECS and ApsaraDB RDS instances and their dependencies, and ROS creates and configures them automatically. What is ROS?.

  • ROS supports the following IoT Platform resource types.

    Resource type	Description
    ALIYUN::IOT::Device	Registers a device.
    ALIYUN::IOT::DeviceGroup	Creates a device group.
    ALIYUN::IOT::Product	Creates a product.
    ALIYUN::IOT::ProductTopic	Creates a topic for a specific product.
    ALIYUN::IOT::Rule	Creates a rule for a specific topic.
    ALIYUN::IOT::RuleAction	Creates a rule action for a specific rule.

• Custom API encapsulation

  • For native HTTP calls, construct and sign requests as described in List of operations by function and Request syntax and signature method V3.

Usage notes

• QPS limits vary by API operation. Check the QPS limits section in each operation's API reference.

  Note

  All RAM users under an Alibaba Cloud account share its QPS quota.

• If an API call returns an error, verify your request parameters against the Error codes reference.

• You can also use the OpenAPI problem diagnosis tool with the request ID or SDK error message for self-service troubleshooting.