Representational State Transfer (REST) is a architectural style designed in parallel with HTTP. REST simplifies integration and deployment while enabling layered, web-scale services. REST APIs in OpenAM implement REST in a way that reuses common HTTP verbs and decouples APIs from the programming languages that developers use to interact with them. OpenAM exposes REST APIs for many capabilities such as those in the following list.
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Authentication (including a callback mechanism so applications can work with all OpenAM authentication modules)
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Logout
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Managing groups
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Managing policy agent profiles
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Managing realms
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Managing user profiles
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OAuth 2.0 authorization
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OpenAM native authorization
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OpenID Connect 1.0 authorization
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Resetting forgotten passwords
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Token validation
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User self-registration
As OpenAM REST APIs provide language-independent access, they make it easier to build cross-device applications. Developers can use the same APIs to access OpenAM both from web applications and also from native mobile applications.
Furthermore OpenAM REST APIs are built on an underlying common REST framework, designed to provide common access to resource providers. The common REST framework standardizes both how resource providers serve standard requests (create, read, update, delete, query, patch), and also how resource providers offer extended operations in a managed way (using actions). Applications built to interact with OpenAM REST APIs increasingly can interoperate with other products in the Open Identity Platform stack such as OpenIDM for identity management and OpenDJ for highly available data.
