The ACI REST API is a programmatic interface that uses REST architecture to interact with the management information tree (MIT) of the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC). The API requires authentication for users to access and manipulate the objects in the MIT. The authentication is based on username and password credentials, and the API provides several methods to manage the session authentication. Two of these methods are:
* POST to aaaLogin. This method logs in a user and opens a session. The message body contains an aaa:User object with the name and password attributes, and the response contains a session token and cookie. The session token and cookie are required for subsequent requests to the API, and they have a limited validity period that can be refreshed.
* DELETE to aaaLogout. This method logs out a user and closes a session. The message body contains an aaa:User object with the name attribute, and the response contains a status code indicating the success or failure of the operation. The session token and cookie are invalidated and cannot be used for further requests to the API.
References := The information is based on the Cisco APIC REST API Configuration Guide, which explains the usage and features of the ACI REST API, including the authentication methods89.