Knowledge Base

How to create a Plesk XML API access token and how to use it for XML API passwordless authentication?

Question

How to create a Plesk XML API access token and how to use it for XML API passwordless authentication?

Answer

A secret key can be obtained from Plesk via XML API or from CLI and then it can be used for passwordless authentication instead of the username and password.

To create a secret key for the Plesk administrator account:

Connect to the server via SSH
Specify the IP address and description that will be linked to this secret key and its description:

# plesk bin secret_key -c -ip-address 203.0.113.2 -description "Admin access token"
778a476a-cf1c-7434-ea47-9f229d70e934

Note: you may specify a few Ip addresses devided by comma.
Afterward, the Plesk secret key can be used placing it on the HTTP header request with the KEY parameter:

Note: Where 778a476a-cf1c-7434-ea47-9f229d70e934 is the admin access token, the api.rpc is a file containing the XML request and 203.0.113.10 is the Plesk server IP address

# curl -kLi -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -H "KEY: 778a476a-cf1c-7434-ea47-9f229d70e934" -H "HTTP_PRETTY_PRINT: TRUE" -d @api.rpc https://203.0.113.10:8443/enterprise/control/agent.php

In case it's necessary to create a Plesk XML API access token for another Plesk user:

Create a secret key for the Plesk administrator account by following the steps described above
Create the file api.rpc with the following content:

Note: Where 203.0.113.2 is the IP allowed for the connection and the login jdoe is the Plesk user

<packet>
<secret_key>
<create>
<ip_address>203.0.113.2</ip_address>
<login>jdoe</login>
</create>
</secret_key>
</packet>
Send the API request:

Note: Where 778a476a-cf1c-7434-ea47-9f229d70e934 is the admin access token, the api.rpc is a file containing the XML request created on the previous step and 203.0.113.10 is the Plesk server IP address

# curl -kLi -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -H "KEY: 778a476a-cf1c-7434-ea47-9f229d70e934" -H "HTTP_PRETTY_PRINT: TRUE" -d @api.rpc https://203.0.113.10:8443/enterprise/control/agent.php

The API response will provide the access token belonging to the Plesk user:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<packet version="1.6.9.1">
<secret_key>
<create>
<result>
<status>ok</status>
<key>e4b01d73-7368-64a6-0515-9fa8fc1d3a78</key>
</result>
</create>
</secret_key>
</packet>
Afterward, the secret key belonging to the Plesk user can be used for Plesk XML API requests:

Note: Where e4b01d73-7368-64a6-0515-9fa8fc1d3a78 is the Plesk user access token, the api.rpc is a file containing the XML request and 203.0.113.10 is the Plesk server IP address

# curl -kLi -H "Content-Type: text/xml" -H "KEY: e4b01d73-7368-64a6-0515-9fa8fc1d3a78" -H…