FOUNDATION TOPICS
APPLICATION PROGRAMMING
INTERFACES (APIS)
For communicating with and configuring networks,
software developers commonly use application
programming interfaces (APIs). APIs are mechanisms
used to communicate with applications and other
software. They are also used to communicate with
various components of a network through software. A
developer can use APIs to configure or monitor specific
components of a network. Although there are multiple
different types of APIs, this chapter focuses on two of the
most common APIs: northbound and southbound APIs.
The following sections explain the differences between
these two API types through the lens of network
automation, and Figure 6-1 illustrates the typical basic
operations of northbound and southbound APIs.
Figure 6-1 Basic API Operations