Components of a URL

This page provides definitions and a diagram to make sure everyone is using the same terms. To maintain consistency of the structure of URLs, Zowe seeks to establish standards around URLs and the elements that make up a URL. This article presents the standard terminology used in Swagger documentation.

Definitions

REST APIs have a baseUrl to which the endpoint paths are appended. The base URL is defined by scheme, host, port and basePath

where:

• baseUrl
  Specifies an absolute URL prefix that is different for each instance of the service, or when the service is accessed via the API Gateway.

The endpoint paths are relative paths that follow the documentation of the REST API.

• scheme
  Specifies the transfer protocols used by the API. API ML supports the http, https, and WebSocket schemes - ws and wss.

• host
  Specifies the domain name or IP address (IPv4) of the host that serves the API. It may include the port number if it is different from the scheme's default port (80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS). Note that this must be the host only, without a scheme or sub-paths.

• basePath
  Specifies the URL prefix for all API paths, relative to the host root. It must start with a leading slash /. If basePath is not specified then all endpoint paths start at the host root.

When a service is accessed without the API Gateway then the format the basePath depends on the service. It can be empty or have several parts (e.g. /fileMasterPlus/api/v1).

When a service is accessed via the API Gateway, the format of the URL is standardized in one of the following formats:

• Using serviceId, service type (t) and major version (v)
• Using serviceId and service type (t)

where:

• serviceId
  Specifies a unique name of the service that is set during the installation of the service.

• t
  Specifies the type of the service. It can be api, ui, or ws

• v
  Specifies the major version the REST API.

  Example: v1, v2. It is optional since some existing services can have versioning in the endpoint path.

The fundamental principle is that by changing the base URL you can access different services with the same API because the structure after the base URL is the same.

The base URL is the parameter the can be set in Zowe CLI in order to access the service. The endpoint path is prepared by the Zowe CLI plug-in but the base URL needs to be provided by the user based on installation of the REST API service.

Examples

URL to a service endpoint without API gateway

http://ca11.ca.com:19876/fileMasterPlus/api/v1/mvs/dataSets/test/ping
\_____/\_______________/\____________________/\_____________________/
scheme       host             basePath             endpointPath
\____________________________________________/
                 baseUrl

URL with empty basePath

https://ca32.ca.com:1443/zosmf/info
\_____/\_______________/\_________/
scheme       host        endpointPath
\______________________/
        baseUrl

URL to a service endpoint via API gateway

https://ca3x.ca.com:10310/cafilemasterplus/api/v1/mvs/dataSets/test/ping
\______/\_______________/\______________________/\_____________________/
scheme       host             basePath                  endpointPath
                          \______________/\__/\/
                            serviceId      t  v

\_______________________________________________/
                 baseUrl

URL to a service endpoint via API gateway without version

https://ca3x.ca.com:10310/zosmfca32/api/zosmf/info
\_____/\________________/\____________/\_________/
scheme        host          basePath    endpointPath
                          \________/\_/
                           serviceId t

\______________________/
        baseUrl

Resources

• For more information, see the documentation for swagger specifications in the Swagger product documentation.