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Integrating
External systems integration is one of the key features of BigFix Inventory. Business logic is enabled for integration and interfaces are provided for common integration points.
REST API
Managing large amounts of information by using the application user interface can be time-consuming. You can use the REST APIs as an alternative to the graphical user interface to reduce the time that is needed to manage your software inventory and the content of your software catalog.
REST API for retrieving the BigFix Inventory version
You use the GET operation on the api/sam/about element to request information about the version of BigFix Inventory.

Integrating
External systems integration is one of the key features of BigFix Inventory. Business logic is enabled for integration and interfaces are provided for common integration points.
- REST API
  Managing large amounts of information by using the application user interface can be time-consuming. You can use the REST APIs as an alternative to the graphical user interface to reduce the time that is needed to manage your software inventory and the content of your software catalog.
  - Software Products and Software Components
    BigFix Inventory detects software components which are bundled with the product.
  - REST API resources and HTTP methods
    The operations of the BigFix Inventory REST API protocol are defined as HTTP methods on certain REST resources.
  - Common REST API elements
    You use connectors and operators to build query segments that filter on matching conditions and values.
  - Mapping REST API versions
    Available from 9.2.8. For some REST APIs, version 2 is created to provide improved functions or experience. In such cases, the original API becomes deprecated with time and only version 2 is further developed. If you have custom tools or internal processes that are based on such REST APIs, it is best to adjust the tools to use the new version of the APIs.
  - REST API for retrieving authentication token
    You use the POST operation on the api/get_token element to request your unique token that is required to authenticate the REST API requests.
  - REST API for retrieving the BigFix Inventory version
    You use the GET operation on the api/sam/about element to request information about the version of BigFix Inventory.
  - REST API for retrieving raw scan results
    Available from 9.2.2. Retrieving raw scan results through REST API is intended to improve the monitoring of your environment by allowing you to quickly discover software that was installed or modified recently. By using shortened data imports, data about your software reaches the server much quicker, and at the same time allows you to increase the number of imports that you can run each day.
  - REST API for software inventory management
    You can reduce the time needed to manage your software inventory in a large environment by using REST API instead of the application user interface. You can use REST API to get a list of software products, releases, and release instances. You can also find out how your software can be bundled.
  - REST API for software classification
    You can reduce the time that is needed to manage your software instances in a large environment by using REST API instead of the application user interface. You can use REST API to share instances, include or exclude instances from a pricing calculation, confirm and assign instances, and reassign instances.
  - REST API for managing VM managers
    You can use REST API requests to add and change VM managers in your infrastructure.
  - REST API for changing advanced server settings
    Available from 9.2.3. You can change the parameters of the BigFix Inventory server by using REST API.
  - REST API for retrieving computer systems, clusters, software instances, and license usage
    You can use this REST API to quickly retrieve large amounts of data related to your computer systems, clusters, software instances, and license usage. Once the data is retrieved, it can be passed to other applications for further processing and analysis.
  - REST API for retrieving software inventory and metric utilization and classifying software (v2)
    Available from 9.2.8. You can use REST API requests to quickly retrieve large amounts of data related to license metric utilization as well as your software inventory, including historical data about uninstalled software. You can then pass this data to other applications for further processing and analysis.
  - REST API for hardware (v2)
    Available from 9.2.8. You can use REST API requests to quickly retrieve large amounts of data related to hardware inventory, including historical data about removed computers. You can then pass this data to other applications for further processing and analysis.
  - REST API for setting and deleting the end of support date
    Available from 9.2.11. You can set and delete the end of support date for any software component by using REST API.
  - REST API for adding and removing tags
    Available from 9.2.14. You can add and remove tags for any software component by using REST API.
  - REST API for export and import of saved report views
    You can use REST API requests to export a saved report view from one instance of BigFix Inventory and import it to another instance of the application.
  - REST API for import of contracts
    You can use REST API requests to import contracts from a csv file.
  - REST API for updating the Oracle core factor
    Available from 9.2.8. You use the PUT operation on the api/v1/servers element to change the processor core factor that is applied to a group of servers for the purpose of calculating utilization of the Oracle Processor Core metric.
  - REST API associations
    Available from 9.2.8. For REST APIs in version 2, you can use associations to retrieve additional data as part of API requests. For example, you can retrieve detailed information about computer hardware as part of the software_instances API request.
- Integrating with IBM Control Desk
  IBM Control Desk is an integrated service management solution that helps you manage a comprehensive range of IT processes, services, and assets. You can use one of its components, Integration Composer, to import and then process data from external applications, like BigFix Inventory.

REST API for retrieving the BigFix Inventory version

You use the GET operation on the api/sam/about element to request information about the version of BigFix Inventory.

To retrieve information about the current version of BigFix Inventory, use the following URL:

https://hostname:port/api/sam/about?token=token

Important:

To use this API, you must be assigned to the All Computers group and have the View Hardware Inventory permission.
Each API request must be authenticated with the token parameter. You can retrieve it by using REST API for retrieving authentication token. You can also log in to BigFix Inventory, hover over the User icon , and click Profile. Then, click Show token.
By default, the retrieved data is sorted by id.

Table 1. Operation descriptions
The table consists of two columns and 15 rows. For the eleventh row there are two levels.
Operation details	Description
Operation	`GET /api/sam/about`
Purpose	Returns the version of BigFix Inventory
HTTP method	`GET`
Resource URI	https://`server_host_name`:`port_number`/api/sam/about
URL link relation	n/a
URI query parameters	n/a
Request headers	Header `Accept-Language` (optional) Values en-US (only English is supported) Used to negotiate the language of the response. If this header is not specified, the content is returned in the server language.
Request payload	n/a
Request `Content-Type`	`application/json`
Response headers	Header `Content-Type` Values `application/json` Specifies the content type of the response.
Response headers	Header `Content-Language` Values en-US, … Specifies the language of the response content. If this header is not specified, the content is returned in the server language.
Response payload	`About` element
Response `Content-Type`	`application/json`
Normal HTTP response codes	`200 – OK`
Error HTTP response codes	`500 – “Bad Request”` if a query parameter contains errors or is missing Message body includes an error message with details.

Example HTTP conversation

Request

GET api/sam/about
?token=7adc3efb175e2bc0f4484bdd2efca54a8fa04623
Host: localhost:9081 
Accept: application/json 
Accept-Language: en-US

Response header

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Language: en-US

Response body (JSON)

{
"product": "BigFix Inventory",
"version": "9.2.20140331-2015"
}