1 00:00:00,270 --> 00:00:01,103 In this lesson, 2 00:00:01,103 --> 00:00:03,150 we'll discuss Integrations and APIs. 3 00:00:03,150 --> 00:00:05,520 Integrations and application program interfaces, 4 00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:07,950 or APIs as they're commonly called, 5 00:00:07,950 --> 00:00:09,240 are the unsung heroes 6 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:11,040 behind the seamless interconnectivity 7 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:12,300 and enhanced capabilities 8 00:00:12,300 --> 00:00:15,660 of today's modern software applications and automation. 9 00:00:15,660 --> 00:00:17,850 When it comes to automation and orchestration, 10 00:00:17,850 --> 00:00:19,290 integrations and APIs 11 00:00:19,290 --> 00:00:21,000 are really the fundamental elements 12 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,950 that drive efficiency, innovation, 13 00:00:22,950 --> 00:00:25,350 and scalability in modern system. 14 00:00:25,350 --> 00:00:28,020 Before we dive into the specifics of each of these, 15 00:00:28,020 --> 00:00:31,822 let's take a moment to define both integration and an API. 16 00:00:31,822 --> 00:00:33,600 And integration refers to the process 17 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:35,370 of combining different subsystems 18 00:00:35,370 --> 00:00:38,070 or components into one comprehensive system 19 00:00:38,070 --> 00:00:40,410 to ensure that they all function properly together. 20 00:00:40,410 --> 00:00:43,050 An API or Application Programming Interface 21 00:00:43,050 --> 00:00:44,400 is a set of rules 22 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:46,440 and protocols that are used for building 23 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,630 and integrating application software. 24 00:00:48,630 --> 00:00:51,180 An API will allow your product or service 25 00:00:51,180 --> 00:00:53,220 to talk to another product or service 26 00:00:53,220 --> 00:00:54,600 in a controlled environment 27 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,570 in using a specific data exchange format. 28 00:00:57,570 --> 00:00:59,460 Now, when we talk about API, 29 00:00:59,460 --> 00:01:01,590 it's a library of programming utilities 30 00:01:01,590 --> 00:01:03,600 that are used to enable software developers 31 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:04,860 to access functions 32 00:01:04,860 --> 00:01:08,220 or features of another application programmatically. 33 00:01:08,220 --> 00:01:10,680 APIs are probably the number one thing 34 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,300 that we use in our integrations 35 00:01:12,300 --> 00:01:13,650 to be able to communicate 36 00:01:13,650 --> 00:01:15,900 between different portions of a microservice 37 00:01:15,900 --> 00:01:18,420 or service oriented architecture. 38 00:01:18,420 --> 00:01:19,980 By using an API, 39 00:01:19,980 --> 00:01:22,020 we can automate the administration, 40 00:01:22,020 --> 00:01:24,600 management and monitoring of various services 41 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,160 and cloud-based infrastructures, 42 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,830 as well as a lots of other applications. 43 00:01:28,830 --> 00:01:31,470 Commonly, our APIs will use either REST 44 00:01:31,470 --> 00:01:33,150 or SOAP to communicate. 45 00:01:33,150 --> 00:01:36,000 REST, or the Representational State Transfer 46 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:37,380 is an architectural style 47 00:01:37,380 --> 00:01:39,210 that uses standard HTTP methods 48 00:01:39,210 --> 00:01:40,380 and status codes, 49 00:01:40,380 --> 00:01:43,380 uniform resource identifiers, and MIME types 50 00:01:43,380 --> 00:01:46,650 to achieve a simple way to interact in a stateless manner 51 00:01:46,650 --> 00:01:49,200 with a given web service. 52 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,320 REST usually relies on using the JSON format 53 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:53,460 when transferring data, 54 00:01:53,460 --> 00:01:55,980 which also makes it a very lightweight protocol 55 00:01:55,980 --> 00:01:58,590 that can be easily integrated with existing websites 56 00:01:58,590 --> 00:02:00,630 without needing to perform any kind 57 00:02:00,630 --> 00:02:02,370 of extensive modifications. 58 00:02:02,370 --> 00:02:05,580 SOAP or Simple Object Access Protocol, 59 00:02:05,580 --> 00:02:07,890 is a protocol that defines a strict standard 60 00:02:07,890 --> 00:02:09,870 with a set structure for the message, 61 00:02:09,870 --> 00:02:11,580 usually in XML format, 62 00:02:11,580 --> 00:02:13,290 that includes a header in a body 63 00:02:13,290 --> 00:02:14,760 that is used to transport data 64 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,410 between two different services. 65 00:02:16,410 --> 00:02:19,260 SOAP is known for being more robust than REST 66 00:02:19,260 --> 00:02:21,270 by having some additional security features 67 00:02:21,270 --> 00:02:24,150 and its ability to provide transaction compliance. 68 00:02:24,150 --> 00:02:25,320 This makes it a great choice 69 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,570 for any enterprise level web services 70 00:02:27,570 --> 00:02:28,950 where complex transactions 71 00:02:28,950 --> 00:02:30,900 and regulatory compliance are essential. 72 00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:33,000 While REST is generally more straightforward 73 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,980 and adaptable to utilize, 74 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:36,210 SOAP does provide us 75 00:02:36,210 --> 00:02:37,650 with a higher level of security 76 00:02:37,650 --> 00:02:38,940 and transactional integrity 77 00:02:38,940 --> 00:02:42,060 that caters to some different use cases and requirements. 78 00:02:42,060 --> 00:02:44,100 Now, when we talk about APIs, 79 00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:47,070 we think about these from a perspective of integration. 80 00:02:47,070 --> 00:02:48,900 APIs allow for integration 81 00:02:48,900 --> 00:02:50,550 between lots of different services, 82 00:02:50,550 --> 00:02:52,470 especially cloud-based services. 83 00:02:52,470 --> 00:02:54,600 Most cloud-based service providers 84 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:56,370 also allow us to do provisioning, 85 00:02:56,370 --> 00:02:58,170 configuration, deprovisioning, 86 00:02:58,170 --> 00:02:59,940 and lots of other things to the services 87 00:02:59,940 --> 00:03:01,740 by using these APIs. 88 00:03:01,740 --> 00:03:03,360 APIs will also allow us 89 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:04,980 to have direct integration 90 00:03:04,980 --> 00:03:06,660 of different third party applications 91 00:03:06,660 --> 00:03:08,640 into our own web applications. 92 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:11,910 By using APIs, we can integrate services together 93 00:03:11,910 --> 00:03:13,950 and make function calls to those services, 94 00:03:13,950 --> 00:03:17,130 instead of having to build an entire service ourself. 95 00:03:17,130 --> 00:03:18,030 With the API, 96 00:03:18,030 --> 00:03:20,250 we can just call on someone else's function 97 00:03:20,250 --> 00:03:21,990 and let their service do the work for us 98 00:03:21,990 --> 00:03:24,030 and return the results back to us. 99 00:03:24,030 --> 00:03:26,760 This is the whole idea of creating a microservice 100 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,590 or service-oriented architecture 101 00:03:28,590 --> 00:03:31,830 instead of building a monolithic web application. 102 00:03:31,830 --> 00:03:33,780 Now, let me give you a great example 103 00:03:33,780 --> 00:03:36,420 of how we use integrations and APIs 104 00:03:36,420 --> 00:03:38,610 in our business here at Dion Training. 105 00:03:38,610 --> 00:03:40,620 To conduct our student support functions, 106 00:03:40,620 --> 00:03:41,550 we use centralized 107 00:03:41,550 --> 00:03:44,370 service management system called Freshdesk. 108 00:03:44,370 --> 00:03:47,280 Freshdesk is a commercial software as a service product 109 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:48,810 that we pay for every month, 110 00:03:48,810 --> 00:03:50,130 and we use this to be able 111 00:03:50,130 --> 00:03:51,870 to get all of our trouble tickets 112 00:03:51,870 --> 00:03:53,760 or questions submitted by our students, 113 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,590 and then we can track those things 114 00:03:55,590 --> 00:03:58,800 to make sure that you're getting the answers you requested. 115 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:00,660 So the way we have it configured 116 00:04:00,660 --> 00:04:03,930 is that if you email support@diontraining.com, 117 00:04:03,930 --> 00:04:06,030 it will get sent to our Freshdesk system 118 00:04:06,030 --> 00:04:08,280 so that our team can look at those emails, 119 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:09,660 which we call tickets, 120 00:04:09,660 --> 00:04:12,180 and then answer the question that you sent us. 121 00:04:12,180 --> 00:04:14,820 You can think about this as a shared inbox, 122 00:04:14,820 --> 00:04:16,860 but since it's actually a ticketing system, 123 00:04:16,860 --> 00:04:17,760 we won't lose track 124 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:19,950 of any requests we receive from our students 125 00:04:19,950 --> 00:04:21,839 so that we can make sure everyone's questions 126 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,120 are being answered promptly. 127 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,173 Now, we also provide some of our courses on Udemy 128 00:04:27,173 --> 00:04:29,580 and the Udemy students also want to be able 129 00:04:29,580 --> 00:04:32,010 to ask us questions about those courses. 130 00:04:32,010 --> 00:04:34,830 But most Udemy students don't email us directly, 131 00:04:34,830 --> 00:04:36,930 and instead they simply post their questions 132 00:04:36,930 --> 00:04:40,140 inside the question and answer section of that website. 133 00:04:40,140 --> 00:04:42,540 Unfortunately, Udemy Q&A system 134 00:04:42,540 --> 00:04:44,400 was never designed to support instructors 135 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:45,480 like Dion training 136 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:47,430 to have over a million Udemy students. 137 00:04:47,430 --> 00:04:49,770 So it is really easy for students questions 138 00:04:49,770 --> 00:04:51,360 to get missed in a Q&A section. 139 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:52,980 To overcome this limitation, 140 00:04:52,980 --> 00:04:53,850 we would need to be able 141 00:04:53,850 --> 00:04:55,350 to rewrite the Udemy website 142 00:04:55,350 --> 00:04:57,270 to add the ticketing system capability 143 00:04:57,270 --> 00:04:59,970 to our instructor backend of the Udemy system. 144 00:04:59,970 --> 00:05:01,800 Since Dion Training doesn't own Udemy 145 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:03,060 and we don't have access 146 00:05:03,060 --> 00:05:05,550 or rights to modify their website's code base, 147 00:05:05,550 --> 00:05:07,140 we cannot add a ticketing system 148 00:05:07,140 --> 00:05:09,270 to the Udemy instructor backend. 149 00:05:09,270 --> 00:05:12,000 So how can I get all of those Q&A posts 150 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:13,950 loaded into my first desk ticketing system 151 00:05:13,950 --> 00:05:15,060 so that we can track 152 00:05:15,060 --> 00:05:16,800 and answer all of our students 153 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:18,720 without missing any of those questions? 154 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,790 Well, if you guess that we should use an API, 155 00:05:20,790 --> 00:05:22,140 you are correct. 156 00:05:22,140 --> 00:05:24,360 Udemy has created an API 157 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:26,670 that allows anyone to programmatically read 158 00:05:26,670 --> 00:05:29,010 and respond to any Q&A posts. 159 00:05:29,010 --> 00:05:31,350 So our development team at Dion Training 160 00:05:31,350 --> 00:05:34,050 spent about a week creating a small integration 161 00:05:34,050 --> 00:05:36,090 to curate the Udemy API. 162 00:05:36,090 --> 00:05:38,820 At any time there's a new Q&A post-it, 163 00:05:38,820 --> 00:05:41,070 we read it from the Udemy API, 164 00:05:41,070 --> 00:05:43,110 and then create a new ticket in Freshdesk 165 00:05:43,110 --> 00:05:45,660 using the Freshdesk API. 166 00:05:45,660 --> 00:05:48,060 Now, all of our Udemy Q&As 167 00:05:48,060 --> 00:05:50,310 will show up as trouble tickets in our system 168 00:05:50,310 --> 00:05:52,241 just as if the student emailed us 169 00:05:52,241 --> 00:05:54,480 at support@diontraining.com. 170 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,850 Now, when our team answers the question, 171 00:05:56,850 --> 00:05:58,680 instead of sending the response by email, 172 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,470 since we don't know the Udemy student's email address, 173 00:06:01,470 --> 00:06:03,600 our system runs another automation 174 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:05,790 that will read the response from our Freshdesk ticket 175 00:06:05,790 --> 00:06:07,260 using their API, 176 00:06:07,260 --> 00:06:10,500 and then post it as an answer to the Udemy Q&A 177 00:06:10,500 --> 00:06:12,480 using the Udemy API. 178 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,207 This is the type of integration that you can do using API, 179 00:06:15,207 --> 00:06:17,850 and in this case, the entire integration program 180 00:06:17,850 --> 00:06:20,730 is less than 150 lines of Python code 181 00:06:20,730 --> 00:06:24,720 running in a serverless AWS Lambda environment. 182 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,910 The entire thing took us about one to two weeks 183 00:06:26,910 --> 00:06:28,800 to create, test and deploy, 184 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:31,290 and it only cost us about $1 per month 185 00:06:31,290 --> 00:06:34,590 to run this code every four hours to get the new Q&As, 186 00:06:34,590 --> 00:06:36,120 create the trouble tickets 187 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,820 and post the responses back to the Q&A section 188 00:06:38,820 --> 00:06:40,470 once our team answers them. 189 00:06:40,470 --> 00:06:42,360 This integration allows our team 190 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:43,500 to work more efficiently 191 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:46,080 since they can answer all student questions in one place 192 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:47,220 inside of Freshdesk, 193 00:06:47,220 --> 00:06:49,620 and then the answers are sent back to the student 194 00:06:49,620 --> 00:06:51,180 to their preferred support channel, 195 00:06:51,180 --> 00:06:53,280 either email or to the Q&A section, 196 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:56,250 depending on where they submitted their question initially. 197 00:06:56,250 --> 00:06:57,083 For the student, 198 00:06:57,083 --> 00:06:58,800 they will never know anything is happening 199 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:00,450 in the background with this integration, 200 00:07:00,450 --> 00:07:02,970 but instead, it looks as if I or Jason 201 00:07:02,970 --> 00:07:04,470 log directly into Udemy 202 00:07:04,470 --> 00:07:07,170 and responded to the Q&A that you posted. 203 00:07:07,170 --> 00:07:08,250 But for our team, 204 00:07:08,250 --> 00:07:09,690 it is easier for us to manage 205 00:07:09,690 --> 00:07:12,600 and allows us to help more students quickly. 206 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,330 Another example of using an API integration 207 00:07:15,330 --> 00:07:17,220 is one that we built that allows our students 208 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:20,100 to access our hands-on cloud-based labs 209 00:07:20,100 --> 00:07:22,440 inside of any of our courses that you may have purchased 210 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:24,210 on diontraining.com. 211 00:07:24,210 --> 00:07:26,910 So if you take a course at diontraining.com, 212 00:07:26,910 --> 00:07:29,100 you'll see video lessons, quizzes, 213 00:07:29,100 --> 00:07:30,600 our downloadable study guides, 214 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:31,920 and our practice exam, 215 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,080 all of which we created ourselves. 216 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,600 But when you get to the Lab-based section, 217 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,540 you will simply click on the link that says launch the lab. 218 00:07:39,540 --> 00:07:41,400 The lab environment will be returned to you 219 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,170 inside of our learning management system 220 00:07:43,170 --> 00:07:45,150 using this backend integration. 221 00:07:45,150 --> 00:07:46,530 When it comes to the labs, 222 00:07:46,530 --> 00:07:48,210 we don't build those ourselves, 223 00:07:48,210 --> 00:07:50,610 but instead we rely on a third party partner 224 00:07:50,610 --> 00:07:51,540 that we work with, 225 00:07:51,540 --> 00:07:53,850 and we use them to integrate their labs 226 00:07:53,850 --> 00:07:55,260 into your course experience, 227 00:07:55,260 --> 00:07:57,390 and we want it to be integrated in a way 228 00:07:57,390 --> 00:07:58,530 so that you don't even realize 229 00:07:58,530 --> 00:08:00,450 that it was a third party provider tool. 230 00:08:00,450 --> 00:08:02,100 In fact, in the old days, 231 00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:03,810 we used to not have this integration, 232 00:08:03,810 --> 00:08:06,600 and instead, our students had to log into the lab provider 233 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,220 the different username and password, 234 00:08:08,220 --> 00:08:09,750 and then select the lab that they needed 235 00:08:09,750 --> 00:08:11,490 to take at a specific time. 236 00:08:11,490 --> 00:08:13,680 By using this API integration, 237 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,090 we remove the need for you having 238 00:08:15,090 --> 00:08:16,980 to use another username and password 239 00:08:16,980 --> 00:08:18,750 and the need to go to a different website, 240 00:08:18,750 --> 00:08:20,130 and the need for you to figure out 241 00:08:20,130 --> 00:08:22,050 which lab for the 20 or 30 242 00:08:22,050 --> 00:08:23,190 that are included in the course 243 00:08:23,190 --> 00:08:25,350 should be performed at that specific time. 244 00:08:25,350 --> 00:08:26,730 But with our integration, 245 00:08:26,730 --> 00:08:28,650 the whole experience is optimized. 246 00:08:28,650 --> 00:08:31,170 So if you're taking a course at diontraining.com, 247 00:08:31,170 --> 00:08:33,539 you'll have access to that full lab environment. 248 00:08:33,539 --> 00:08:35,039 As you're going through the course, 249 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:35,909 you'll watch a video 250 00:08:35,909 --> 00:08:37,477 and eventually get to the one that says, 251 00:08:37,477 --> 00:08:38,850 "Now here's the lab. 252 00:08:38,850 --> 00:08:41,610 In this lab, you're going to do X, Y, and Z. 253 00:08:41,610 --> 00:08:43,409 Click this link to start the lab", 254 00:08:43,409 --> 00:08:45,210 and that link actually looks something 255 00:08:45,210 --> 00:08:47,700 like you would see here on the screen. 256 00:08:47,700 --> 00:08:52,200 It says something like diontraining.com?Action= 257 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,780 run instance and ID equals, 258 00:08:54,780 --> 00:08:56,130 and the count 259 00:08:56,130 --> 00:08:59,010 and the access key and all those things. 260 00:08:59,010 --> 00:09:01,110 These are the parameters that we're passing 261 00:09:01,110 --> 00:09:03,300 to the API of our lab provider. 262 00:09:03,300 --> 00:09:04,860 This allows our lab partner 263 00:09:04,860 --> 00:09:07,140 to know which of our students is taking the lab 264 00:09:07,140 --> 00:09:08,940 based on their student ID, 265 00:09:08,940 --> 00:09:10,980 which lesson they're at in the course, 266 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:12,600 which lab needs to be ran, 267 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,490 and the authorization token. 268 00:09:14,490 --> 00:09:16,080 We send all of these details 269 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,240 to our lab provider using their API 270 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,030 and in return, they provide us with the lab information 271 00:09:21,030 --> 00:09:22,800 and the lab launch link 272 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,810 that will be displayed on your screen. 273 00:09:24,810 --> 00:09:26,790 This is actually a magic link 274 00:09:26,790 --> 00:09:28,200 that will let you open the lab 275 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:29,940 within the next three minutes. 276 00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:31,380 Once you click on that link, 277 00:09:31,380 --> 00:09:32,310 it will load the lab 278 00:09:32,310 --> 00:09:35,100 inside of our learning management system for you. 279 00:09:35,100 --> 00:09:36,240 You may have also noticed 280 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,250 that the URL has an authorization token 281 00:09:38,250 --> 00:09:39,930 including in it as well. 282 00:09:39,930 --> 00:09:41,460 This is because the cloud provider 283 00:09:41,460 --> 00:09:42,690 needs to be able to know 284 00:09:42,690 --> 00:09:43,800 who they're servicing 285 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,680 because we have hundreds of thousands of students, 286 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:48,720 and by knowing which student you are, 287 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,550 they can give you the right services 288 00:09:50,550 --> 00:09:52,950 that we already paid for on your behalf 289 00:09:52,950 --> 00:09:54,690 so that you're not charged anything additional 290 00:09:54,690 --> 00:09:55,590 to access these labs. 291 00:09:55,590 --> 00:09:57,840 Now that we understand a little bit more 292 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,900 about application programming interfaces and integrations. 293 00:10:00,900 --> 00:10:03,930 You may be wondering how can you test if a given API 294 00:10:03,930 --> 00:10:06,510 is working properly in your existing automation? 295 00:10:06,510 --> 00:10:09,540 One of my favorite tools to interact with an API 296 00:10:09,540 --> 00:10:11,130 is the Curl tool. 297 00:10:11,130 --> 00:10:15,030 Curl comes install by default and Linux and MacOS systems, 298 00:10:15,030 --> 00:10:18,780 but you can also install it yourself on your Windows system. 299 00:10:18,780 --> 00:10:21,270 Curl is a tool used to transfer data 300 00:10:21,270 --> 00:10:22,800 to and from a server, 301 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:24,810 using one of the supported protocols, 302 00:10:24,810 --> 00:10:28,560 including HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, 303 00:10:30,270 --> 00:10:31,620 FTPS, 304 00:10:31,620 --> 00:10:32,940 SCP, 305 00:10:32,940 --> 00:10:34,800 SFTP, 306 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:36,630 TFTP, 307 00:10:36,630 --> 00:10:38,580 DICT, 308 00:10:38,580 --> 00:10:39,660 TELNET, 309 00:10:39,660 --> 00:10:41,910 LDAP or FILE. 310 00:10:41,910 --> 00:10:45,120 Now, all of these protocols can be used with Curl 311 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,370 and the one you will use to test the API, 312 00:10:47,370 --> 00:10:50,550 it's usually going to be HTTP or HTTPS, 313 00:10:50,550 --> 00:10:52,770 depending on if you're testing an API 314 00:10:52,770 --> 00:10:54,450 that is using an insecure connection 315 00:10:54,450 --> 00:10:56,460 or a secure connection. 316 00:10:56,460 --> 00:10:58,710 So how do you use Curl? 317 00:10:58,710 --> 00:11:00,600 As a cybersecurity professional, 318 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:02,760 I can use Curl to test an API 319 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:04,410 by using the basic command, 320 00:11:04,410 --> 00:11:08,490 curl, space, dash, dash, data space, 321 00:11:08,490 --> 00:11:10,140 the argument that you want to pass, 322 00:11:10,140 --> 00:11:12,420 and then the URL of the API. 323 00:11:12,420 --> 00:11:17,420 So for example, if I wanted to test the httpbin.org API, 324 00:11:17,970 --> 00:11:21,107 I could enter something like curl --data 325 00:11:21,107 --> 00:11:24,774 "firstname=boolean&lastname=world" 326 00:11:26,646 --> 00:11:31,563 https://http.bin.org/post. 327 00:11:34,595 --> 00:11:37,397 In this case, I'm sending the first name equals boolean, 328 00:11:37,397 --> 00:11:38,910 and the last name equals world. 329 00:11:38,910 --> 00:11:43,310 And then I'm sending this to https"//httpbin.org/post. 330 00:11:47,070 --> 00:11:48,450 When I'm sending that information, 331 00:11:48,450 --> 00:11:51,210 what will I receive back from the API? 332 00:11:51,210 --> 00:11:54,330 Well, for the httpbin API, 333 00:11:54,330 --> 00:11:56,850 we will receive something in a JSON format 334 00:11:56,850 --> 00:11:58,980 that has data that includes a list of arguments 335 00:11:58,980 --> 00:12:02,400 and fields that came back from that particular API. 336 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,980 This allows you to send the data over the API 337 00:12:04,980 --> 00:12:06,900 and see what comes back as response, 338 00:12:06,900 --> 00:12:08,520 which is very helpful if you're working 339 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:09,690 as a software developer 340 00:12:09,690 --> 00:12:11,790 or cybersecurity software engineer 341 00:12:11,790 --> 00:12:13,530 as part of a penetration test. 342 00:12:13,530 --> 00:12:15,510 So remember, integrations 343 00:12:15,510 --> 00:12:18,540 and APIs are used to seamlessly create interconnections 344 00:12:18,540 --> 00:12:20,310 between different services to enhance 345 00:12:20,310 --> 00:12:22,170 their default capabilities. 346 00:12:22,170 --> 00:12:23,790 Integration refers to the process 347 00:12:23,790 --> 00:12:26,340 of combining different subsystems or components 348 00:12:26,340 --> 00:12:28,350 into one comprehensive system 349 00:12:28,350 --> 00:12:31,200 to ensure that they function properly together. 350 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,990 An API or Application programming interface, 351 00:12:33,990 --> 00:12:35,970 is a set of rules and protocols 352 00:12:35,970 --> 00:12:37,350 that are used for building 353 00:12:37,350 --> 00:12:39,330 and integrating application software. 354 00:12:39,330 --> 00:12:41,760 An API will allow your product or service 355 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,740 to talk to another product or service 356 00:12:43,740 --> 00:12:45,060 in a controlled environment 357 00:12:45,060 --> 00:12:48,330 and using a specific data exchange format. 358 00:12:48,330 --> 00:12:50,610 When we are using automation or orchestration, 359 00:12:50,610 --> 00:12:52,260 we rely heavily on the APIs 360 00:12:52,260 --> 00:12:53,580 to create an interconnection 361 00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:55,440 between our different microservices 362 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,623 or services provided by our third party partners.