Get Started with Qualys Flow APIs

This help is intended for application developers who use the Qualys QFlow APIs.

Qualys API Framework

Learn the basics about making API requests. The base URL depends on the platform where your Qualys account is located.

The Qualys QFlow API uses the following framework.

Request URLRequest URL

The URL for making API requests respects the following structure:

https://<baseurl>/<module>/<object>/<object_id>/<operation>

Refer to the following table for the field description.

Field	Description
<baseurl>	The Qualys API server URL that you should use for API requests depends on the platform where your account is located. The base URL for Qualys US Platform 1 is: https://gateway.qg1.apps.qualys.com For documentation purposes, we use <qualys_base_url>.
<module>	The API module. For the QFlow API, the module is: QFlow.
<object>	The module-specific object.
<object_id>	(Optional) The module-specific object ID, if appropriate.
<operation>	The request operation, such as count.

Qualys API Gateway URL

The Qualys API URL you should use for API requests depends on the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk platform.

Click here to identify your Qualys platform and get the API URL

This documentation uses the API gateway URL for <qualys_base_url> in sample API requests. If you are on another platform, replace this URL with the appropriate gateway URL for your account.

Introduction to QFlow API Paradigm

Get tips on using the Curl command-line tool to make API requests. Every API request must authenticate using a JSON Web Token (JWT) obtained from the Qualys Authentication API.

You must authenticate to the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Platform using Qualys account credentials (user name and password) and get the JSON Web Token (JWT) before you can start using the Qflow APIs. Use the Qualys Authentication API to get the JWT.

Example Authentication Curl Request:

API Request

curl -X POST 
"<qualys_base_url>/auth"
 -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" 
--data-urlencode "username=<value1>" 
--data-urlencode "password=<value2>"
--data-urlencode "token=true&permissions=true"

The following table explains the various components of this request:

qualys_base_url	It is the base URL for the Qualys API server where your account is located. The base URL for Qualys US Platform 1 is: https://gateway.qg1.apps.qualys.com
value1 and value2	value1 is the username and value 2 is the password of the user account for which you want to fetch QFlow data.
token	It must be true.
permissions	It must be true.
Content-Type	It must be application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

Using CurlUsing Curl

Curl is a multi-platform command-line tool used to transfer data using multiple protocols. This tool is supported on many systems, including Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac. In this document Curl is used in the examples to build Qualys API requests using the HTTP over SSL (https) protocol, which is required.

Want to learn more? Visit https://curl.haxx.se/

The following Curl options are used according to different situations:

Field	Description
-X GET -X POST	The GET and POST method is required for QFlow API requests.
-H “Authorization: Bearer <token>”	This option is used to provide a custom HTTP request header parameter for authentication. Provide the JSON Web Token (JWT) received from Qualys authentication API in the following format: Authorization: Bearer <token> For information about Qualys authentication API, refer to the Authentication section .

Field

Description

-X GET

-X POST

The GET and POST method is required for QFlow API requests.

-H “Authorization: Bearer <token>”

This option is used to provide a custom HTTP request header parameter for authentication. Provide the JSON Web Token (JWT) received from Qualys authentication API in the following format:

Authorization: Bearer <token>

For information about Qualys authentication API, refer to the Authentication section .

The following sample shows a typical Curl request using the options mentioned and how they interact.

Curl Request

curl -X POST  "<qualys_base_url>/auth" -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" 
-d "username=john_doe&password=john_doe&token=true&permissions=true"

Permissions

To make calls using the QFlow API, you must have API Access permission in your role.

You can give permission to access API from the Administration module while creating a role or editing the role.

Navigate to the Administration application > Role Management > Edit Role > Role Details.
In the Permissions tab, select API Access from Select how users would access this application section.
Select QFlow from Modules.
Select QFlow Permissions and click Save.

For more details on role creation, refer to the Online Help of Administration module.

API Rate Limits

The Qualys API enforces limits on the API calls a customer can make based on their subscription settings.

Rate Limit per Subscription: It defines the maximum number of API calls allowed per subscription within a 60-second window. The limit is 500 requests per 60 seconds.

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