NAME

cPanel::PublicAPI - A perl interface for interacting with cPanel

SYNOPSIS

use cPanel::PublicAPI;

# Auto detect authentication information
my $cp = cPanel::PublicAPI->new();
# or specify a user/password
my $cp = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'someuser', 'pass' => 'somepass' );
# or specify an accesshash
my $cp = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'someuser', 'accesshash' => $accesshash );
# or specify an API token
my $cp = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'someuser', 'api_token' => $api_token );

# Perform an xml-api query
$cp->whm_api('listaccts');
# Pass parameters to the xml-api
$cp->whm_api('createacct', {'username' => 'someuser', 'password' => 's0m3P4$$w()Rd' } );
# Return JSON from xml-api (rather than a hash reference)
$cp->whm_api('version', undef, 'json');

# Perform an API2 query
$cp->cpanel_api2_request('whostmgr',
  {
    'module' => 'Email',
    'func' => 'listpopswithdisk',
    'user' => 'someuser',
  }
);
# Perform an API2 query when authenticated as a user
$cp->cpanel_api2_request('cpanel',
  {
    'module' => 'Email',
    'func' => 'listpopswithdisk',
  }
);
# Pass parameters to an API2 call
$cp->cpanel_api2_request('cpanel'
  {
      'module' => 'Email',
      'func' => 'addpop',
  },
  {
      'domain' => 'domain.com',
      'email' => 'username',
      'password' => 'SojmASDM(#(Jinasifodanosd',
      'quota' => 200
  },
);

# Perform an API1 query
$cp->cpanel_api1_request('whostmgr',
  {
      'module' => 'LastLogin',
      'func' => 'lastlogin',
      'user' => 'someuser'
  }
);
# Pass parameters to an API1 query
$cp->cpanel_api1_request('cpanel',
  {
      'module' => 'Mysql',
      'func' => 'adduserdb',
  },
  [ 'somedb', 'somedbuser', 'ALL' ]
);

# perform an HTTP GET request against a URL
$cp->api_request('whostmgr', '/xml-api/loadavg', 'GET');

# perform an HTTP GET request with parameters
$cp->api_request('whostmgr', '/xml-api/createacct', 'GET', {'username' => 'someuser', domain => 'domain.com'} );

# perform an HTTP POST request (with parameters)
$cp->api_request('whostmgr', '/xml-api/createacct', 'POST', {'username' => 'someuser', domain => 'domain.com'} );

DESCRIPTION

cPanel::PublicAPI is a supported interface for interacting with cPanel's APIs over HTTP. This allows you to query either WHM or cPanel accounts from a perl interface. The purpose of this module is to provide an easy-to-use interface into cPanel's various APIs without requiring much knowledge of how they work.

Object Construction

a cPanel::PublicAPI object is constructed with the new() method.

my $publicapi = cPanel::PublicAPI->new();

When passed no parameters, this will create the object using the accesshash in ~/.accesshash. If no .accesshash file exists, it will attempt to use the REMOTE_PASS environment variable. If the REMOTE_PASS variable is not defined, object creation will error out.

new() parameters

options for new() are specified as a hash reference, the following parameters are supported:

• user - The username to authenticate as.
• pass - The password to use for authentication.
• accesshash - The accesshash to use for authentication.
• api_token - The API token to use for authentication.
• timeout - The length of time (in seconds) before an http request should time out. Default to 300.
• ip - The IP to be queried. defaults to 127.0.0.1, if host is defined it will take precedence over the 'ip' parameter.
• host - The hostname to be queried. This will take precedence over the 'ip' parameter.
• usessl - 1 or 0, Indicates whether communication should be performed over SSL or not (default to 1).
• ssl_verify_mode - 1 or 0, Indicates whether to verify SSL certificates or not. (default to 1).
• error_log - Path to where you want debug and error logging information to be written to. If this is not defined or the module is unable to open the path in question, it will default to STDERR.
• debug - Enables debug logging, which will place considerably more information into the error_log.

Notes about authentication

There are three sets of credentials that can be used to authenticate to WHM.

First we have the basic user/password combinations:

use cPanel::PublicAPI;
my $pubapi = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'foo', 'pass' => 'bar' );

Next is API token authentication. To create an API token, visit "Manage API Tokens" in WHM and click Generate Token. Fill out the form and click Generate. Your token will appear in a special notice. Make certain that you save your API token in a safe location on your workstation. You cannot access the token after you navigate away from the interface or refresh the API Tokens table.

To use an API token with this module, do the following:

use cPanel::PublicAPI;
my $pubapi = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'foo', 'api_token' => $string_containing_api_token );

Last is accesshash authentication. To configure accesshashes, visit “Setup remote access key” in WHM which will generate an accesshash for your server if one does not already exist. It will store the generated accesshash in ~/.accesshash.

To use an accesshash with this module, do the following:

use cPanel::PublicAPI;
my $pubapi = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'foo', 'accesshash' => $string_containing_access_hash );

It should be noted that the accesshash can contain newlines in it. Newlines will be stripped by the object when it attempts to perform a query.

NOTE: Accesshash authentication is deprecated in cPanel & WHM version 64.

Dependencies

This module will fall back on different modules if one fails to load. This allows for compatibility with cPanel & WHM's internal perl parser and maintain compatibility with a standard perl implementation. The order that it will fall back on serialization modules is:

• JSON::Syck
• JSON
• JSON::XS
• JSON::PP

If you installed this module via CPAN, this should never be an issue. If you are wishing to use this module on a system where you do not have access to compiled modules, JSON::PP is the recommended serializer.

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

cPanel version 54 and above allows users to configure 2FA on their accounts - this security policy requires that the API queries are performed after authenticating and establishing a session. The workflow to accomodate 2FA will be as so:

use cPanel::PublicAPI;

use lib '/usr/local/cpanel';
use Cpanel::Security::Authn::TwoFactorAuth::Google (); # only available in 11.54+

my $pubapi = cPanel::PublicAPI->new( 'user' => 'foo', 'pass' => 'bar' );
my $google_auth = Cpanel::Security::Authn::TwoFactorAuth::Google->new(
    {
        'account_name' => 'foo',
        'secret'       => $user_2fa_secret,
        'issuer'       => ''
    }
);
$pubapi->establish_tfa_session('whostmgr', $google_auth->generate_code());
$pubapi->whm_api('applist');

Anytime you change services (e.g. from 'whostmgr' to 'cpanel'), you must establish the 2FA session for the new service.

eval {
    $pubapi->cpanel_api2_request('cpanel', { 'user' => 'foo', 'module' => 'MysqlFE', 'func' => 'listdbs' }, {} );
};
print "failed cause 2fa session wasn't established\n" if $@;

$pubapi->establish_tfa_session('cpanel', $google_auth->generate_code());
eval {
    $pubapi->cpanel_api2_request('cpanel', { 'user' => 'foo', 'module' => 'MysqlFE', 'func' => 'listdbs' }, {} );
};
print "success\n" if not $@;

NOTE: Additionally, since accesshash authentication is not allowed to establish sessions, you must use the 'user'/'pass' authentication in order to make API requests as a user with 2FA configured.

Important Methods

Querying the xml-api - whm_api()

The XML-API is WHM's API used for administrative functions is handled via the whm_api() method.

The syntax for whmapi is:

$cp->whm_api($call [, \%formdata, $format ] );

The meaning of these parameters is:

• $call - The XML-API call you wish to query
• $formdata - The parameters for the XML-API call in question, f.ex. for suspendacct, here you would pass in a hashref containing “user” and “reason”. If there are no parameters, this can be undef or a blank hash.
• $format - The requested response format. The valid values here are “xml”, “json” or “ref” (perl hash reference). This will default to returning a perl hash reference when the value is undef.

By default, WHM API v1 is used. If, for legacy reasons, you need to use v0, please set the api.version key to 0 in the formdata parameter.

For more information on what calls are available and how they can be referenced, please see the xml-api documentation at http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/AllDocumentation/AutomationIntegration/XmlApi.

Querying cPanel's APIs

cPanel supports two APIs, designated "API1" and "API2".

cPanel API calls are seperate into Modules, these module names relate to modules within the Cpanel namespace on a cPanel server. Each module defines a set of functions that are from either API1 or API2 (or both).

There are two distinct differences between API1 and API2:

• API1 Takes in ordered parameters and returns strings
• API2 uses named parameters and returns hashes or arrays of hashes

Within the context of the public api, calling a function from API1 or API2 will always return a hash, but the specific data returned from the API call will be contained within the 'data' key of the response.

For more information on the differences between API1 and API2 please see the documentation: http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/DeveloperResources/ApiBasics/WebHome

For information on calling API1 and API2 direct via HTTP, please see: http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/AllDocumentation/AutomationIntegration/CallingAPIFunctions

cpanel_api1_request()

cpanel_api1_request() is used to query cPanel's API1, the function used for querying API1 has the following syntax:

$cp->cpanel_api1_request($service, \%cfg [, \@params, $format ] );

• $service - The service that you wish to query. This can be 'cpanel' 'whostmgr', or 'webmail'. It is important to note that what services you are able to query depends on the user you are authenticated as. Only a user with reseller or root access can use the whostmgr service. If you are authenticated as root, you will not be able to query the 'cpanel' service. When the service is set to 'whostmgr' a 'user' must be set in the $cfg hash.
• $cfg - A hash reference describing the call you wish to make. Required parameters are 'module' and 'func', which correspond to the module and function of the API call you wish to query. If you are querying the "whostmgr" service, you will need to specify 'user' as well.
• $params - An array reference containing the parameters you wish to pass to the API call.
• $format - The format for the xml-api to respond in. The valid values here are “xml”, “json” or “ref” (perl hash reference). This will default to returning a perl hash reference.

To see what modules and functions are available for making API1 calls, please see: http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/ApiDocs/Api1/WebHome

cpanel_api2_request()

cpanel_api2_request() is used to query cPanel's API2, the function use for querying API2 has the following syntax:

$cp->cpanel_api2_request( $service, \%cfg [, \%params, $format ] );

• $service - The service that you wish to query. This can be 'cpanel' 'whostmgr', or 'webmail'. It is important to note that what services you are able to query depends on the user you are authenticated as. A user that does not have reseller or root access will not be able to use the whostmgr service. If you are authenticated as root, you will not be able to query the 'cpanel' service. When the service is set to 'whostmgr' a 'user' must be set in the $cfg hash.
• $cfg - A hash reference describing the call you wish to make. required parameters here are 'module' and 'func', which correspond to the module and function of the API call you wish to query. If you are querying the "whostmgr" service, you will need to specify 'user' as well.
• $params - An hash reference containing the parameters you wish to pass to the API call.
• $format - The format for the xml-api to respond in. The valid values here are “xml”, “json” or “ref” (perl hash reference). This will default to returning a perl hash reference when the value is undef.

To see what modules and functions are available for making API2 calls, please see: http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/ApiDocs/Api2/WebHome

api_request() - Making direct URL requests to cPanel & WHM.

There are some situations where you will need to query cPanel and WHM URLs directly. This should ONLY be done when there is not an API call available for the function you wish to query.

The function used for querying URLs directly is api_request(). It will always return a string rather than converting the response into a hash reference. It uses the following syntax:

$cp->api_request( $service, $uri, $method, \%formdata, $headers)

• $service - The service that you wish to query. This can be 'cpanel' 'whostmgr', or 'webmail', when passed an numerical value, PublicAPI will query that port directly.
• $uri - The URL you wish to query, e.g. '/xml-api/cpanel'
• $method - 'GET' or 'POST'
• $formdata - The data you wish to pass to the URL
• $headers - Any additional headers are to be passed with the request. These can be either a flat string or as a hashref like {'headertitle' => 'headerdata'}

Other Features

• establish_tfa_session()

See "Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)" above.

• set_debug()

This function allows you to enable/disable debug mode by passing a value that evaluates to 'true' or 'false'.

• user()

Allows you to change the user that your PublicAPI object is authenticating with.

• pass()

Allows you to change the password that your PublicAPI object is authenticating with, this will remove the stored accesshash from the object.

• accesshash()

Allows you to change the accesshash that your PublicAPI object is authenticating with, this will remove the stored password from the object.

• api_token()

Allows you to change the API token that your PublicAPI object is authenticating with, this will remove the stored password from the object.

• format_http_query()

Allows you to construct formdata for an http query from a hash. For Example:

$pubapi->format_http_query( { 'one' => '1', 'two' => 2 } );

would return:

'one=1&two=2'

• format_http_headers()

Allows you to construct headers for an http query from a hash. For Example:

$pubapi->format_http_headers( { 'Authorization' => 'Basic cm9vdDpsMGx1cnNtNHJ0IQ=='} );

would return:

'Authorization: Basic cm9vdDpsMGx1cnNtNHJ0IQ==\r\n'

• $pubapi->{'error'}

Errors encountered within the class are stored here before being written out to the error_fh filehandle. This can be used for checking the existance of query errors.

Bugs

see http://rt.cpan.org to report and view bugs

License

Copyright (c) 2015, cPanel, Inc. All rights reserved. http://cpanel.net

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * Neither the name of cPanel, Inc. nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.