SoftLayerâ„¢ Extends API to Manage Cloud Services

DALLAS, TX (Gawkwire.com) SoftLayer™ today extended its industry-leading Application Programming Interface (API) to enable control of the company’s CloudLayer™ Computing and CloudLayer Storage services. The API is an interface that allows customers to give their systems automatic, remote access and control of SoftLayer services. It integrates with third-party and custom software, providing seamless provisioning, management, monitoring, and information retrieval from SoftLayer systems including accounting, inventory, DNS management, and many others.

The SoftLayer API features:
 87 Services
 363 Data Types
 1282 Methods

The SoftLayer API supports:
 SOAP
 XML-RPC
 REST with JSON / XML output
 

“The API we give customers is the same API that we use for our internal applications. And because of that, it will always let them leverage the same automation and services available in our portal,” said Nathan Day, SoftLayer Chief Technology Officer. “That’s a different approach to than most of the industry. This isn’t an afterthought or stripped down accessory—it’s core to our model of giving customers the ultimate control over their data center services.”

Many service providers’ APIs offer fewer than a hundred control methods, many offering only 10 or fewer, and mostly provide the ability to retrieve simple information such as account and hardware information, bandwidth graphs, and handle reboots. SoftLayer’s API has advanced features that allow customers to develop more detailed interaction and automation with their SoftLayer solutions.
Advantages and uses of SoftLayer’s API include:
 Interaction with partners, vendors, and customers
 Streamlined operations through process automation and systems integration
 Opportunities to leverage open architectures
 Secure, flexible access
 DNS, CDN, remote storage, and security management