(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Three months after launching its latest line of cloud services, CloudLayer, on-demand data center services provider SoftLayer (www.softlayer.com) has extended its application programming interface to control CloudLayer computing and storage services, letting clients streamline operations through automation and systems integration.
According to SoftLayer’s Monday announcement, the API lets customers give their systems automatic, remote access and control of 87 SoftLayer’s services, 363 data types, and 1282 Methods. Many rival APIs offer fewer than a hundred control methods — many less than 10 — and most only 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.
“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,” SoftLayer chief technology officer Nathan Day said in a statement. “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.”
Providing secure, flexible access to CloudLayer services, SoftLayer’s API helps clients interact with partners, vendors, and customers; leverage open architectures; and manage DNS, CDN, remote storage, and security. The API 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.
