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Integrating
External systems integration is one of the key features of BigFix Inventory. Business logic is enabled for integration and interfaces are provided for common integration points.
REST API
Managing large amounts of information by using the application user interface can be time-consuming. You can use the REST APIs as an alternative to the graphical user interface to reduce the time that is needed to manage your software inventory and the content of your software catalog.
REST API for export and import of saved report views
You can use REST API requests to export a saved report view from one instance of BigFix Inventory and import it to another instance of the application.
Exporting and importing a saved report view
To export a saved report view to another instance of BigFix Inventory, check the ID of the report view in the source instance of BigFix Inventory. Then, use the GET operation to retrieve the definition of the saved report view. Next, use the POST operation to import it to another instance of BigFix Inventory.

Integrating
External systems integration is one of the key features of BigFix Inventory. Business logic is enabled for integration and interfaces are provided for common integration points.
- REST API
  Managing large amounts of information by using the application user interface can be time-consuming. You can use the REST APIs as an alternative to the graphical user interface to reduce the time that is needed to manage your software inventory and the content of your software catalog.
  - Software Products and Software Components
    BigFix Inventory detects software components which are bundled with the product.
  - REST API resources and HTTP methods
    The operations of the BigFix Inventory REST API protocol are defined as HTTP methods on certain REST resources.
  - Common REST API elements
    You use connectors and operators to build query segments that filter on matching conditions and values.
  - Mapping REST API versions
    Available from 9.2.8. For some REST APIs, version 2 is created to provide improved functions or experience. In such cases, the original API becomes deprecated with time and only version 2 is further developed. If you have custom tools or internal processes that are based on such REST APIs, it is best to adjust the tools to use the new version of the APIs.
  - REST API for retrieving authentication token
    You use the POST operation on the api/get_token element to request your unique token that is required to authenticate the REST API requests.
  - REST API for retrieving the BigFix Inventory version
    You use the GET operation on the api/sam/about element to request information about the version of BigFix Inventory.
  - REST API for retrieving raw scan results
    Available from 9.2.2. Retrieving raw scan results through REST API is intended to improve the monitoring of your environment by allowing you to quickly discover software that was installed or modified recently. By using shortened data imports, data about your software reaches the server much quicker, and at the same time allows you to increase the number of imports that you can run each day.
  - REST API for software inventory management
    You can reduce the time needed to manage your software inventory in a large environment by using REST API instead of the application user interface. You can use REST API to get a list of software products, releases, and release instances. You can also find out how your software can be bundled.
  - REST API for software classification
    You can reduce the time that is needed to manage your software instances in a large environment by using REST API instead of the application user interface. You can use REST API to share instances, include or exclude instances from a pricing calculation, confirm and assign instances, and reassign instances.
  - REST API for managing VM managers
    You can use REST API requests to add and change VM managers in your infrastructure.
  - REST API for changing advanced server settings
    Available from 9.2.3. You can change the parameters of the BigFix Inventory server by using REST API.
  - REST API for retrieving computer systems, clusters, software instances, and license usage
    You can use this REST API to quickly retrieve large amounts of data related to your computer systems, clusters, software instances, and license usage. Once the data is retrieved, it can be passed to other applications for further processing and analysis.
  - REST API for retrieving software inventory and metric utilization and classifying software (v2)
    Available from 9.2.8. You can use REST API requests to quickly retrieve large amounts of data related to license metric utilization as well as your software inventory, including historical data about uninstalled software. You can then pass this data to other applications for further processing and analysis.
  - REST API for hardware (v2)
    Available from 9.2.8. You can use REST API requests to quickly retrieve large amounts of data related to hardware inventory, including historical data about removed computers. You can then pass this data to other applications for further processing and analysis.
  - REST API for setting and deleting the end of support date
    Available from 9.2.11. You can set and delete the end of support date for any software component by using REST API.
  - REST API for adding and removing tags
    Available from 9.2.14. You can add and remove tags for any software component by using REST API.
  - REST API for export and import of saved report views
    You can use REST API requests to export a saved report view from one instance of BigFix Inventory and import it to another instance of the application.
    - Exporting and importing a saved report view
      To export a saved report view to another instance of BigFix Inventory, check the ID of the report view in the source instance of BigFix Inventory. Then, use the GET operation to retrieve the definition of the saved report view. Next, use the POST operation to import it to another instance of BigFix Inventory.
    - Export of saved report views
      You use the GET operation on the api/reports/report_ID element to export a saved report view which can be then imported to another instance of BigFix Inventory.
    - Import of saved report views
      You use the POST operation on the api/reports element to import a saved report view from another instance of BigFix Inventory.
  - REST API for import of contracts
    You can use REST API requests to import contracts from a csv file.
  - REST API for updating the Oracle core factor
    Available from 9.2.8. You use the PUT operation on the api/v1/servers element to change the processor core factor that is applied to a group of servers for the purpose of calculating utilization of the Oracle Processor Core metric.
  - REST API associations
    Available from 9.2.8. For REST APIs in version 2, you can use associations to retrieve additional data as part of API requests. For example, you can retrieve detailed information about computer hardware as part of the software_instances API request.
- Integrating with IBM Control Desk
  IBM Control Desk is an integrated service management solution that helps you manage a comprehensive range of IT processes, services, and assets. You can use one of its components, Integration Composer, to import and then process data from external applications, like BigFix Inventory.

Exporting and importing a saved report view

To export a saved report view to another instance of BigFix Inventory, check the ID of the report view in the source instance of BigFix Inventory. Then, use the GET operation to retrieve the definition of the saved report view. Next, use the POST operation to import it to another instance of BigFix Inventory.

About this task

The following procedure uses cURL command-line tool for negotiating API requests.

Procedure

Check the identifier of the saved report view.
1. Log in to the instance of BigFix Inventory from which you want to export the saved report view.
2. In the top navigation bar, click Reports > Saved Reports. Open the saved report view and check the last number in the report URL.
  In the following example, the report ID is 2.
```
http://server_host_name:port_number/sam/pvuonlysubcapreports#32fe0f54dc719893faacc1d0f38a0c9045863729/2
```
Obtain API tokens from both instances of BigFix Inventory.
1. Hover over the User icon , and click Profile.
2. In the API Token line, click Show token.
Open the command line interface and change to the location where cURL is installed.
To export the report view, use the following GET request:
```
curl -o C:\saved_reports\report_definitions\pvu_subcapacity.txt 
-X GET server_host_name:port_number/api/reports/report_ID?
token=5edd5aey7cd91467h08450bc258c31f0ce706543
```
Where:

-o

Specifies the path to the file where the definition of the saved report view is to be saved.

-X

Specifies the type of HTTP request.

report_ID

Specifies the identifier of the saved report view that is to be exported.

If the request is successful, the following message is displayed:
```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
```
To import the saved report view to another instance of BigFix Inventory, use the following POST request:
```
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" 
-X POST -d "@C:\saved_reports\report_definitions\pvu_subcapacity.txt"
server_host_name:port_number/api/reports?
token=5cd3gh78499496e89a3246ab343474e85d8bc8fc
```
Where:

-H

Specifies the header of the request.

-X

Specifies the type of HTTP request.

-d

Specifies the path to the file where the definition of the saved report view was saved.

Results

The saved report view was imported to the target instance of BigFix Inventory.