Common parameters include common request parameters and common response parameters.

Common request parameters

Common request parameters must be included in all API requests.

Table 1. Common request parameters
Parameter Type Required Description
Format String No The format in which the response is returned. Valid values:

JSON and XML. Default value: JSON.
Version String Yes The version number of the API. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. Set the value to:

2020-04-15
AccessKeyId String Yes The AccessKey ID provided to you by Alibaba Cloud.
Signature String Yes The signature string of the API request.
SignatureMethod String Yes The encryption method of the signature string. Set the value to:

HMAC-SHA1
Timestamp String Yes The timestamp of the request. Specify the time in the ISO 8601 standard in the YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ format. The time must be in UTC.

Example: 2013-01-10T12:00:00Z, which indicates 20:00:00 on January 10, 2013 (UTC+8).
SignatureVersion String Yes The version of the signature encryption algorithm. Set the value to:

1.0
SignatureNonce String Yes A unique, random number that is used to prevent replay attacks.

You must use different numbers for different requests.

Common response parameters

API responses use the HTTP response format where a 2xx status code indicates a successful call and a 4xx or 5xx status code indicates a failed call. Responses can be returned in JSON or XML format. You can specify the response format in the request. The default response format is XML.

Every response returns a unique RequestID regardless of whether the call is successful.
  • XML format 
    <? xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"? > 
    <!--The root node of the result-->
    <Operation name+Response>
        <!--Return request tag-->
        <RequestId>4C467B38-3910-447D-87BC-AC049166F216</RequestId>
        <!--Return result data-->
    </Operation name+Response>
  • JSON format 
    {
    "RequestId":"4C467B38-3910-447D-87BC-AC049166F216",
    /*Returned data*/
    }