Working With APIs

Getting Started

The purpose of this guides is two fold:

• First, to provide an introduction to those unfamiliar with using the FileWave API
• Second, to be a reference for commands that can be used within the API

You should know that when we refer to the RESTful API v1 werefers are specifically talking aboutto the original Command Line API.  Recognisable both by the port used and URL paths commencing:  

• /inv/ endpoint.
There

FileWave Anywhere API v2 and,refers with a small URL change, you can use commands listed here on TCP 443 with allto the otherweb admin, FileWave Anywhere, API commands.and Therecognisable reasonby youpaths seecommencing:

in the URLs of this article is that the
•  RESTful/api/
API v1 uses that port.

Purpose of an API

TheAs RESTfuldescribed, API is code built into FileWave server (starting with version 6.x) providing the capability of two-way communication between the FileWave Postgres database and other external systems.  Using the calls in the RESTful API, a FileWave administrator can generate queries, exchange information, and more efficiently integrate inventory data. The RESTful API is designed so that queries and tools created using the current version API will continue to function as future versions of the FileWave server and admin appsAPIs are introduced.

Many institutions using FileWave for inventory management of their various computing devices also have existing databases for tracking systems. These DB’s could range from simple, in-house SQL databases designed to keepcommunicate trackwith ofsystems.  institutionalAs assetssuch, toFileWave amay full-blown,be commercialleveraged by other systems, e.g. SCCM data engineengines, suchin-house asdatabases, SCCM.etc.  TheTo RESTfulmaintain APIsecurity, containsthere themust mechanisms to integrate those databases into FileWave throughbe an authentication system, followed by a standardized set of queries using the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation - https://json.org) format.

Possible uses could be integrating existing SCCM data into FileWave queries; sending Fileset information from FileWave backmethod to your help desk database,allow such as Invgate; or integrating purchase order system data into the application license data stored in FileWave.

The RESTful API provides you, the FileWave administrator, with the abilitycommunication to expandtake the depth of information about your managed systems. Imagine being able to integrate years of detailed inventory stored in your site’s commercial database with the ease of the FileWave Admin’s Inventory queries, or being able to create a simple front end application that alerts you to sudden changes in the software licenses you have enabled across your entire company or campus.place.  The RESTful API provides this kind of expansion of your ability to provide in-depth asset and license managementintegration on an as-needed basis.

Basic, non-specific command line examples:

macOS shell

curl -s -H "Authorization: $auth" \
    https://$server_dns:20443/inv/api/v1/query_result/ \
    --data $query \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Windows PowerShell

$header = @{Authorization=“$auth"}

Invoke-RestMethod -Method POST \ 
    -Headers $header \
    -ContentType application/json \
    -Uri https://$server_dns:20443/inv/api/v1/query_result/ \
    -Body $query

The macOS 'Authorization' or Window's 'Headers' make use of base64 tokens.  From the above code, $auth would need to be set as one of these tokens.

Each user generated will have their own unique base64 token automatically generated.  This token can be revoked and new tokens created.  Each user may have multiple tokens.

The Token is the Key

ForTokens securitymay reasons,be weviewed from FileWave Central App:

• Assistants > Manage Administrators

Select a desired Administrator and choose the 'Application Tokens' tab.  The token value to copy is the 'Token (base64)'

Token value from above image:

ezQ1OTQ1ZTI4LWI1OTUtNDFiNS1iZGQwLTYzZDAxM2ExMDkxZn0=

When choosing accounts and tokens for API interaction, consider making dedicated users for the task(s) required.  Set the permissions of that user to limit their ability to the required task alone.  If the token is compromised, this will needlimit not only the scope of how that token could be used by an attacker, but when revoking and generating a tokennew totoken, accessminimal theimpact RESTful API.  Before version 12.9 there was only one token for inventory (Admin Preferences → Inventory → "Shared Key") that had total read and write access to all data.  Starting in 12.9 there canwould be many application tokens, each with their own rights. 

experienced.

For more information on the Application Tokens see the page: Managing FileWave Administrators (Application Tokens)

We

API needRequests

Requests base64could versionbe ofone the token for the rest of the activity.of:

Command Type	Description
FigureGET	Returns -a Manageresource Administratorsvalue
PUT	Replaces a resource
PATCH	Updates a resource
POST	Creates a resource
DELETE	Removes a resource

SelectData everything (including the = at the end)

Application Token

e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=

An important note on URLs

FileWave has been around for some time, and there is a slight difference in the URL structure between the old and new versions of the API. To access the new API endpoints, simply add "/api/" to the beginning of the URL. For example, if the old version of the API URL was "/inv/api/", the new URL would be "/api/inv/api/". This change was made during the transition to the API-first approach and the FileWave Anywhere admin console,sent with the new API endpoints now utilizing TCP 443 for communication. If you encounter any issues, ensure that the URL starts with "/api/" to determine if yourequests are using the modern API or the v1 API. Over time, it is advisable to migrate from TCP 20445 to TCP 443 to align with the new API structure.

This on TCP 443 like all the other API. Notice that it begins with /api/inv/api/

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2M2sssYjIwLTxxx1hMzdiLTFmyyyGIwYTdjOH0=" https://myserver.filewave.net/api/inv/api/v1/query/ \ 
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d @ios16_incompatible.json

This only with TCP 20445. Notice that it begins /inv/api/

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2M2sssYjIwLTxxx1hMzdiLTFmyyyGIwYTdjOH0=" https://myserver.filewave.net:20445/inv/api/v1/query/ \ 
    --header "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d @ios16_incompatible.json

Breaking down the JSON/Results

When you send (AKA POST) or receive (AKA GET) inventory information it will be sent/received in the form of JSON.a JSON, as are the responses from those requests.

JSON data is broken into keyskeys/value andpairs, values.where Onevalues keycould benefiteven of JSON over CSV is the ability to dobe lists inside of lists.

Examples

Below examples are using a python tool to reformat the returned response.  Python must be installed to benefit from this. If not, remove the piped section of the command or instal Python.

For example, doingactioning a GET to look at a list of all theFileWave inventoryServer queriesInventory inQueries, yourcould server,return anda thenJSON similar to the results of one of those queries would look like this:below:

GET

List allExisting queriesInventory

1) Get all Queries

curl -s  -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" \
    https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query/ | python -mjson.tool

[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "All Windows",
        "favorite": true,
        "group": 1,
        "version": 1
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "name": "Mac OS X 10.7-10.11",
        "favorite": false,
        "group": 1,
        "version": 5
    },
...
    {
        "id": 103,
        "name": "All Computers to retire",
        "favorite": false,
        "group": 3,
        "version": 2
    }
]

GET

Return the Querydefinition Information

The query information,definition, not the results of the query.  Using ID 1 as an example:

2) Get Query

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" \
    https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query/1 | python -mjson.tool

{
    "criteria": {
        "expressions": [
            {
                "column": "type",
                "component": "OperatingSystem",
                "operator": "=",
                "qualifier": "WIN"
            }
        ],
        "logic": "all"
    },
    "favorite": true,
    "fields": [
        {
            "column": "device_name",
            "component": "Client"
        },
        {
            "column": "filewave_client_name",
            "component": "Client"
        },
        {
            "column": "name",
            "component": "OperatingSystem"
        },
        {
            "column": "version",
            "component": "OperatingSystem"
        },
        {
            "column": "build",
            "component": "OperatingSystem"
        },
        {
            "column": "edition",
            "component": "OperatingSystem"
        }
    ],
    "main_component": "Client",
    "name": "All Windows",
    "id": 1,
    "version": 1,
    "group": 1
}

Figure 1.2 - Query Builder Criteria

GETReturn the Inventory Query Results

3) Get Query Results

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query_result/1 | python -mjson.tool

{
    "total_results": 13,
    "filter_results": 13,
    "offset": 0,
    "values": [
        [
            "FW-BLUE-02",
            "FW-Blue-02",
            "Windows 10.0",
            "10.0.0",
            "10240",
            "Microsoft Windows 10 Home"
        ],
        [
            "LAPTOP-C6LLFGH6",
            "FH-History3",
            "Windows 10.0",
            "10.0.0",
            "14393",
            "Microsoft Windows 10 Home"
        ],
...
    ],
    "version": 3
}

Useful Tools

Converting to/from base64

Website to encode and decode base64 

• https://www.base64encode.org/ - Encode
• https://www.base64decode.org/ - Decode

Using Python

Python

#!/usr/bin/env python
import base64
import sys
print "Authorization:", base64.encodestring(sys.argv[1])

Save as base64encode.py

Use by:

./base64encode.py {780756eb-4cbd-455f-aaa7-d49db12de9d0}

JSON

Verify JSON Formatting:

• https://jsonlint.com/

API Application 

• Postman https://www.getpostman.com/ (macOS, Windows, and Linux)

Browser Extensions

• Mod-Header https://mod-header.appspot.com/ Will allow you to use the Google Chrome Browser to view and interact with the FileWave API

Commands

Remember:  All URLs start with

https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/

Must include the authorization header

Below are the optionspossible for use with it.options:

URLs

Examples

Using a browser extension

Using Mod-Header (see tools section), you can make Chrome a RESTful API browser by taking advantage of the FileWave Django Framework. Allowing you to look at theLeveraging URLs and howauthorisation things show up by telling the browsertoken to sendreturn aQuery token as an "Authorization" header each place you go to.Results.

Even if youthe go to a url thatURL is typically a POST url,POST, it provides aan boxoutput belowsimilar youto canthe post withfollowing

Using the curl command

Viewing all available queries (GET)

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query/ | python -mjson.tool

Posting a new query (POST)

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d @<path/name of new query.json> https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query/

Removing a query (DELETE)

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" -X DELETE https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query/<id#>

For more curl help, see: Using the RESTful API to limit, sort, and offset values returned

Self-Signed Certificates

Hopefully everyone is using official certificates. However, if the FileWave Server does have a self-signed certificate, the above commands should fail.  To ignore the warnings the following is required.

macOS

Add the -k option to the command.  E.g.

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=" https://myserver.company.org:20445/inv/api/v1/query/ | python -mjson.tool

Windows

PowerShell requires somewhat more code to ignore the warning.  Add the below to the beginning of any script calling an API to a server with a self-signed certificate:

# Required for self-signed certs only
function Ignore-SSLCertificates
{
    $Provider = New-Object Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider
    $Compiler = $Provider.CreateCompiler()
    $Params = New-Object System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters
    $Params.GenerateExecutable = $false
    $Params.GenerateInMemory = $true
    $Params.IncludeDebugInformation = $false
    $Params.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.DLL") > $null
    $TASource=@'
        namespace Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy
        {
            public class TrustAll : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy
            {
                public bool CheckValidationResult(System.Net.ServicePoint sp,System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate cert, System.Net.WebRequest req, int problem)
                {
                    return true;
                }
            }
        }
'@ 
    $TAResults=$Provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource($Params,$TASource)
    $TAAssembly=$TAResults.CompiledAssembly
    ## We create an instance of TrustAll and attach it to the ServicePointManager
    $TrustAll = $TAAssembly.CreateInstance("Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy.TrustAll")
    $AllProtocols = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Ssl3,Tls,Tls11,Tls12'
    [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = $AllProtocols
    [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy = $TrustAll
}


Ignore-SSLCertificates

Using PHP

Saved as a php file (like inv.php), update the urlURL and auth code, then place the file on a web server where PHP has been enabled. This creates a webpage that is a 'view onlyonly' web page version of yourthe inventory. People can go toenter the URL for the query andquery, hit refresh as many times as they like,like and will always seeingsee the latest information in inventoryinventory.  All without having to hassle IT for the latest data.

The output of the query results isn't fancy, but this is to illustrate what can be done.achieved.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<html>
<?php
$baseurl="myserver.company.org";
$port="20443";
$authcode="e2FjYzRkYmQzLTI3ZjYtNDEyMi1iMGVhLTI1YmY0OGNmYWM0NX0=";


ini_set('display_errors', 'On');
### do not edit below ###
if (!isset($_GET["qid"])){
	$url = "https://".$baseurl.":".$port."/inv/api/v1/query/";
} else {
	$url = "https://".$baseurl.":".$port."/inv/api/v1/query_result/".$_GET["qid"];
}
//  Initiate curl
$ch = curl_init();
// Set the url
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
// Disable SSL verification
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, FALSE);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, 1);
// Will return the response, if false it print the response
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, TRUE);
//authenticate
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER,array('Authorization:<'.$authcode.'>=')); 
// Display errors if any
if (curl_errno($ch)) { 
   print curl_error($ch); 
} 
// Execute
$result=curl_exec($ch);
if (curl_errno($ch)) { 
   print curl_error($ch); 
} 
$output=json_decode($result, true);
curl_close($ch);

//create function for looping unknown dimensional array
function printAll($a) {
  if (!is_array($a)) {
    echo $a, ' <br/>';
    return;
  }
echo "<br/>";
  foreach($a as $v) {
    printAll($v);
  }
}

// Start html Page 
echo '<head>'
.'<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />'
.'<title>'.$baseurl.'Inventory Page</title>'
.'</head>'
.'<body>'
.'<style type="text/css">'
."body {font-family:'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;}"
.'h1,h2,h3,h4,{font-weight:100;}'
.'div {padding:10px; color:#fff; background:#333;}'
.'div.output{border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1); background: rgba(0,0,0,0.03); color:#555;-webkit-border-radius:3px;border-radius:3px;margin:15px 25px; padding:10px;}'
.'tr:nth-child(even) {background: rgba(255,255,255,0.85);}'
.'tr:nth-child(odd) {background: rgba(0,0,0,0.05);}'
.'a, a:hover {color:#ce1300; text-decoration:none;}'
.'</style>'
.'<div><h1><img src="https://www.filewave.com/images/filewave-1024x788.png" height="60" />'.$baseurl.' Inventory</h1></div>'
.'<br/>';

// Default homepage
if (!isset($_GET["qid"])){
	echo "<table>"
	."<thead>"
	."<tr>"
	."<th>&hearts;</th>"
	."<th>Query Name</th>"
	."<th>Query ID</th>"
	."</tr>"
	."</thead>"
	."<tbody>";
	foreach ($output as &$value) {
		if ($value['favorite'] == true) { $fav="&hearts;";} elseif ($value['favorite'] == false) {$fav=" ";}
		echo "<tr><td>".$fav."</td><td>".$value['name']."</td><td><a href='".$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']."?qid=".$value['id']."&n=".$value['name']."'>".$value['id']."</a></td></tr>";	
	}
	echo"</tbody></table>";
}
//If an individual query has been selected
elseif (isset($_GET["qid"],$_GET["n"]))  {
	echo "<h3>Home &gt; Query: "
	.$_GET["n"]
	."</h3><hr/>"
	."<strong>Total Results: </strong>"
	.$output['total_results']
	."<br/>"
	.'<strong>First Column results: </strong>';

	foreach ($output['values'] as &$value) {
		echo $value['0'].' <strong> &nbsp; | &nbsp; </strong>';
	}
echo "<br/>"
."<strong> All Results: </strong><br/><div class='output'>";
printAll($output['values']);
echo "</div>";	
#var_dump($result);
}
else {
	echo "<h1 style='color:#ff0000;'> An error has occurred</h1> Parhaps you used a bookmark and the URL has changed";
}
?>
<hr/>
<center><font style=" font-size:9px;"><a href="http://filewave.com" target="_blank">&copy; BenM@ FileWave</a></font></center>
</body>
</html>