Management API - Using the API

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Access to the Management API is provided by the HTTP server of the MailStore Service Provider Edition Management Server which listens on TCP port 8470 by default. All communication is SSL encrypted.

Each request to the Management API must be authenticated by sending a valid cookie and to prevent cross-site request forgery (XSRF) a valid X-AntiXsrfToken HTTP-header. Such a cookie and token is created after successfully logging on. The cookie's lifetime is extended with each new request to the API and each request creates a new unique anti XSRF token to be used in the subsequent request. Each request must be of the type POST.

When a function needs additional data, this data must be send urlencoded. The HTTP header Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded should be set.

Refer to Function Reference for a full list of available API functions.

Please note: Depending on the scope of the called function, the URL may vary (/, /api/ or /api/invoke). Please carefully check to which URL you are sending your requests in case of unexpected results.

Logging On

For logging on to the Management API and requesting the authentication cookie and anti XSRF token, send a HTTP POST request to the following URL:

https://<mgmt-server>:8470/login

The below POST variables are expected:

Name Description
u Username of MailStore Service Provider Edition Administrator
p Password of MailStore Service Provider Edition Administrator

On successful authentication +OK followed by the anti XSRF token value is returned as a normal string in the body of the HTTP response.

Example

HTTP Request

POST /login HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Host: server.ms-spe.test:8470
Accept: */*
Content-Length: 18
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
 
u=admin&p=Passw0rd

HTTP Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache,private,no-store,must-revalidate,max-stale=0,post-check=0,pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 51
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Expires: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:31:34 GMT
Server: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Set-Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=TUidNy4lYFU03ekOUju7udiC1AfxYRCmX%2bb
QCGFkbWlu;path=/;secure;HttpOnly
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 14:31:34 GMT
 
+OK Lj9SUpcVnVv5t938IgJNgFiAZsLxYRCmX+bQCGFkbWlu

Logging Out

For logging out of the Management API and expire the authentication cookie immediately, send an empty HTTP POST request to the following URL:

https://<mgmt-server>:8470/logout

Important Notice: Depending on the HTTP client library in use, the HTTP Content-Length header might not get set for empty HTTP POST requests. In that case it is required to set Content-Length: 0 manually in the HTTP header. Also the HTTP client library might follow HTTP 302 redirects automatically. In this case the MailStore log in page will be presented instead of the response mentioned below.

Example

HTTP Request

POST /logout HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Host: server.ms-spe.test:8470
Accept: */*
Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=TUidNy4lYFU03ekOUju7udiC1AfxYRCmX%2bb
X-AntiXsrfToken: Lj9SUpcVnVv5t938IgJNgFiAZsLxYRCmX+bQCGFkbWlu
Content-Length: 0

HTTP Response

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Cache-Control: no-cache,private,no-store,must-revalidate,max-stale=0,post-check=0,pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 47
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Expires: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:27:56 GMT
Location: /web/login.html
Server: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Set-Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=;path=/;secure;HttpOnly
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 14:27:56 GMT
 
<html><body><h1>302 Found</h1></body></html>

Executing Regular API Functions

To execute regular Management API functions, send HTTP POST request to the following URL:

https://<mgmt-server>:8470/api/invoke/<function>

Do not forget to send the cookie and the latest anti XSRF token along with each request. This extends the cookie lifetime and returns a valid anti XSRF token for the next request. The token value can be extracted from the antiXsrfToken key of the returned JSON string.

Example

HTTP Request

POST /api/invoke/GetEnvironmentInfo HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Host: dweuthen.mscloud.test:8470
Accept: */*
Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=TUidNy4lYFU03ekOUju7udiC1AfxYRCmX%2bb
X-AntiXsrfToken: Lj9SUpcVnVv5t938IgJNgFiAZsLxYRCmX+bQCGFkbWlu
Content-Length: 0
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

HTTP Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache,private,no-store,must-revalidate,max-stale=0,post-check=0,pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 770
Content-Type: application/json
Expires: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:05:19 GMT
Server: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Set-Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=Ecru%2fvKOOd1TdbClcEdWAigiRu%2fCJA5dZObQCGFkbWlu;path=/;secure;HttpOnly
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 15:05:19 GMT

{
   "error": null,
   "token": null,
   "antiXsrfToken": "RPDV65bC7Jap57JwtjvhOBlPBEDCJA5dZObQCGFkbWlu",
   "statusVersion": 2,
   "statusCode": "succeeded",
   "percentProgress": null,
   "statusText": null,
   "result": {
     "version": "8.5.0.9272",
     "copyright": "Copyright (c) 2005-2013 MailStore Software GmbH",
     "licenseeName": "MailStore Software GmbH",
     "licenseeID": 10510,
     "serverName": "server.ms-spe.test",
     "userName": "admin",
     "systemProperties": {
       "processors": [
         "Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5645 @ 2.40GHz",
         "Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5645 @ 2.40GHz"
       ],
       "totalPhysicalMemory": 4398800896,
       "operatingSystem": "Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard"
     }
   },
   "logOutput": null
 }

Long Running Processes

Some API functions start a long running process that may take several minutes or even hours to complete. To keep track of the progress a unique token is returned upon initial request, which can be used to periodically poll for status updates.

The overall process is as follows:

  1. Send HTTP POST to https://<mgmt-server>:8470/api/invoke/VerifyStore in order to execute the function.
  2. Check the server's response for the keys token, statusCode and statusVersion.
  3. To retrieve status updates, send periodic requests to https://<mgmt-server>:8470/api/get-status with the following parameters:
Name Description
token The received unique token for the process.
lastKnownStatusVersion Value of statusVersion from last response.
millisecondsTimeout Time in milliseconds until the the server stops waiting for a new status update to send. If a new status update is available it will be sent to the client immediately, otherwise the last status is repeated.
4. The process finished when the statusCode is not running.

Example

Initial HTTP Request

POST /api/invoke/VerifyStore HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Host: server.ms-spe.tesst:8470
Accept: */*
Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=ZsByPD0aV4gYcGt3DL6elnMSKAaQTyRe%2fqHQCGFkbWlu
X-AntiXsrfToken: BTp4ZWF5n8sDDpI0LG5z5bKYIzakLfzubebQCGFkbWlu
Content-Length: 28
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

instanceID=i20140122-01&id=2

Initial HTTP Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache,private,no-store,must-revalidate,max-stale=0,post-check=0,pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 359
Content-Type: application/json
Expires: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 16:13:50 GMT
Server: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Set-Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=wG332pdxKrKEbmAvsc81kOja7QOG7wDvbebQCGFkbWlu;path=/;secure;HttpOnly
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:13:49 GMT
 
{
  "error": null,
  "token": "sa71c6ef0d880a14eb2220fa87f276710e",
  "antiXsrfToken": "Z1aU+nQNasuCl9pvKGTANHKfFuyG7wDvbebQCGFkbWlu",
  "statusVersion": 3,
  "statusCode": "running",
  "percentProgress": 0,
  "statusText": null,
  "result": null,
  "logOutput": "Verifying file group #2...\r\nCreating a list of messages to be verified...\r\n"
}

Periodic HTTP Request of Progress

POST /api/get-status HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.22.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.3.4 libidn/1.23 librtmp/2.3
Host: server.ms-spe.test:8470
Accept: */*
Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=wG332pdxKrKEbmAvsc81kOja7QOG7wDvbebQCGFkbWlu
X-AntiXsrfToken: Z1aU+nQNasuCl9pvKGTANHKfFuyG7wDvbebQCGFkbWlu
Content-Length: 90
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
 
token=sa71c6ef0d880a14eb2220fa87f276710e&lastKnownStatusVersion=3&millisecondsTimeout=5000

HTTP Response to Periodic Progress Requests

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache,private,no-store,must-revalidate,max-stale=0,post-check=0,pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 309
Content-Type: application/json
Expires: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 16:21:55 GMT
Server: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Set-Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=Fo00yVkaGWgRFyhpf4KPDdDMdLrxM4AQb%2bbQCGFkbWlu;path=/;secure;HttpOnly
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:21:55 GMT
 
{
  "error": null,
  "token": null,
  "antiXsrfToken": "Zrt40mK3S5xIG3HOce688LZ/QCXxM4AQb+bQCGFkbWlu",
  "statusVersion": 4,
  "statusCode": "running",
  "percentProgress": 0,
  "statusText": null,
  "result": null,
  "logOutput": "500047 messages are about to be verified.\r\nVerifying...\r\n"
}

Final HTTP Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: no-cache,private,no-store,must-revalidate,max-stale=0,postcheck=0,pre-check=0
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 242
Content-Type: application/json
Expires: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 16:09:42 GMT
Server: Microsoft-HTTPAPI/2.0
Set-Cookie: MSWEB_MGM_AUTH=ZsByPD0aV4gYcGt3DL6elnMSKAaQTyRe%2fqHQCGFkbWlu;path=/;secure;HttpOnly
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 16:09:41 GMT

{
  "error": null,
  "token": null,
  "antiXsrfToken": "Dg5geOu431l/5k36IXd13FlqLQ0Ki6ElcObQCGFkbWlu"
  "statusVersion": 269,
  "statusCode": "succeeded",
  "percentProgress": null,
  "statusText": null,
  "result": null,
  "logOutput": null
}

Error Handling

Additionally to handling protocol specific issues such as HTTP or TCP errors, developers receive detailed information from the API itself in case the request did not succeed,

In case the request was successfully be processed, the response will contain: 

 "error": null

Otherwise in the event of a failure the error key will have the following structure 

 "error": {
   "message": string,
   "details": string
 }

allowing developers to display a meaningful error message and further technical details.

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