Getting started with Red Hat APIs

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Using APIs for Red Hat services

APIs for Red Hat services can help you more effectively keep track of and automate:
* Subscriptions and entitlements
* User accounts and permissions

Prerequisites

Red Hat APIs use OAuth 2.0 for authorization. To obtain a token and access the APIs, you will need the following pieces of information:

  • Offline token generated on the API Tokens page (User needs to have the View/Renew Subscription Information permission)
  • Client ID = rhsm-api
  • Token URL = https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid-connect/token
  • Installed jq to process JSON objects:
    • jq is a command-line JSON processor that can be installed using the yum command: sudo yum install jq

Generating a new offline token

An offline token never expires as long as it is used at least once every 30 days and is used to create access tokens. It works as a password and allows you to continue being able to authenticate your account without having to create new refresh tokens.

Warning: Please use password management that is consistent with networking best practices. It is never safe to store any passwords or credentials in plaintext. Treat your offline token with the same security measures that you would a password to protect it against unauthorized use.

To generate an offline token, visit the API Tokens page and click the Generate Token button.

Generating an access token

Once you have created the offline token, you can use that token to create a new refresh token, which includes an access token that is valid for five minutes. Access tokens are passed in the header to authenticate your Customer Portal user.

Warning: Please use password management that is consistent with networking best practices. It is never safe to store any passwords or credentials in plaintext.

Set the offline token value (in this example, we set it in plaintext and shorten the token value for clarity)
# offline_token='eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCIgOiA'

# curl https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid-connect/token -d grant_type=refresh_token -d client_id=rhsm-api -d refresh_token=$offline_token

You should see an output similar to the below where access_token is what will be used as authorization token:

{"access_token":"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.JfStOgLvgFUAlMb7aVfm-dWxd4wN5oqk377Q6oyDe55pM4zDiZ0f1yJfHsWL8RHeb3r0tj8DY_UAyAFkxAnjyWjq52d7h2EfJUPOs1p1P8Yeu5hDwOrA34Es2maN-ZbJCc4sOb7stGhxSCU15CfvPFIRR5tgSQ17-Mx-x4ZnK_fwpOK6DqQpNzZ0Krz3U1a-NH86XJ8dT8lC3o03YrdlcZx_-wv6-PehqNQa2Hb9vt1csX8QlL3PEyBVNPZXaaTHvyFYx0orGyjKA83Qq-LihbWBXzNjf_rIEfsPJYi-uQHIT_zjaOPYo2rXi7VTPJC2qRSxF2yaRGlihZHxkDzMOTITnaDeMhbx1zvRr-R9eXocEUzsU9j-Yx7h3WYCFjb8zdfXTBHV8SCaMdH1u9Eesa5gmHOoki8882RR85i1fjpBayFTS36y4S-yDebUYiukXOnw8mMMKy04NhVpFGfWtJ8--Jy4Ypndqqk_OS_PiWBsFFN6lMv5S6DZWVpjjE-CENHKn9ceA4MlerBBXLY02Xz9h0biiQUZrd-NLy11j4os124Mai1mmlNOLz993hw0gl-vKKno_bYOV8dEEmKtSLlSPVdW5X_0vBU0BtQuSEVctz_8zsRKHpT-YlDdmP0VDuzJjWM0YsGz2W0_tMuLG7NYS_Ia3vWAVuK--Uv5cAQ","expires_in":900,"refresh_expires_in":0,"refresh_token":"eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCIgOiAiSldUIiwia2lkIiA6ICItNGVsY19WZE5fV3NPVVlmMkc0UXhyOEdjd0l4X0t0WFVDaXRhdExLbEx3In0.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.S_pmAWzQUc04f0uGHN9rRYd4sH1t4IPnEwCcOH1aBL9Qo4_EbXPWCrtnf84f1pfuKJTQwUS-DldY6eloyVEsGgnqkygBKh270bu_bNXCNAuLJigEMsYx_2VzdnwWLptWS2_FUaNwe7Tai8qXwd8F0ge0Zjoi3P15S_8z4Tp79uD-qKcvwz6NlPKCOZwEbwZqOkJDZ8JKTIK8O0jfqdtHMfaWwlXMXdvx3B70tTOtHjQGAsxZA2dPPvqVGuyMOMmC3bMaISReUbtDwsCV-eAZplDfDZthr4k4JbmG9Iwq1aATaF3aCwfpebcmoIZGHE4_RLZrXCZKapXVVvRxcOrJytxIZrbDHq6ozX7j-j1SE3kuexcSLvlodmfTlxwPX9g7aqJu2ZLno54NxQSgYO8lQqSvScFgLtbX5f_FUS0Iw6yRWWJy2o2fnvfGk83rt5UYTtIb8Xd1GXcpHf8Yl10nVy21BetSQY__VpahF_eZghBNxS689GJnwUqAwlu01pOlb26mmHaydHc3hqUsudZydRbaFfI7nR6gQP8lCtp6b0z5hgVHLG4ZJ7i4MmEL6C5G4xHUaUs6RZgJUSsc2DzLW0b7rSQj41JuvTmSgD8bMrnVokmkAbfvxjKGc7E8n2GyImO7JiKb3RA7_o0xOTRYDIa_Ns-lnigJkUlQZUzt7JI","token_type":"bearer","not-before-policy":0,"session_state":"f0dbb8d4-4e4e-4654-844c-6f3704c84422","scope":"offline_access"}%

The access_token is what needs to be set/used as authorization token to perform the API call.

# token=$(curl https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid-connect/token -d grant_type=refresh_token -d client_id=rhsm-api -d refresh_token=$offline_token | jq --raw-output .access_token)

Perform an API call with the token

Example API call to list 100 systems:

# curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $token"  "https://api.access.redhat.com/management/v1/systems?limit=100"

Optional CLI tooling support

Install a JSON formatting tool, such as jq or optionally, json_reformat, to receive more structured returns of your API calls.

  • json_reformat is a command-line JSON formatter that comes standard on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Developers familiar with standard OIDC libraries that supports OAuth 2.0 can use those libraries to build authorization to the Red Hat Subscription Management APIs into scripts and applications.

An option for testing APIs, or for users who access APIs less frequently, is to use a REST client. As long as your REST client supports OAuth 2.0 or custom form submission, you can use that client to access the APIs. Some examples of popular REST clients include Postman, Advanced REST Client, and Restlet.

Accessing available Red Hat APIs

Red Hat provides a Swagger file to describe the specifications. The Swagger specification includes information about the API endpoints available, input parameters, expected output, and possible error responses. The swagger file can be imported into REST clients like Postman or RESTlet to automatically build a library of API calls. The Red Hat API Swagger documentation can be found on the Red Hat API Tokens and Swagger documentation page linked at the bottom of this article

Contact Red Hat

If you run into problems and require support, please open a support case.

Resources for downloads and Swagger documentation

Troubleshooting

  1. Obtain offline_token from https://access.redhat.com/management/api

  2. Set the offline token:

# offline_token='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'

* Verify it's set:

        # echo $offline_token

  1. Get the access token

    # curl https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid-connect/token -d grant_type=refresh_token -d client_id=rhsm-api -d refresh_token=$offline_token

  2. Grab the access token with the function we created before

     # token=$(curl https://sso.redhat.com/auth/realms/redhat-external/protocol/openid-connect/token -d grant_type=refresh_token -d client_id=rhsm-api -d refresh_token=$offline_token | jq --raw-output .access_token)

    • Verify the access_token is set

      # echo $token

  3. Perform an API call:

    # curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $token"  "https://api.access.redhat.com/management/v1/systems?limit=100"

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