Junos REST API practice questions

/healthz

Why wrong: /healthz is common in Kubernetes environments, not native Junos REST API.

/api/v1/system/ping

Why wrong: This path structure is not used by the Junos REST API daemon.

/status/ping

Why wrong: /status/ping is not a standard Junos REST endpoint.

set management-plane api rest

Why wrong: This command is invalid in Junos.

set system services rest http port 3000

Why wrong: The rest hierarchy is not directly under system services.

set protocols rest-api enable

Why wrong: Protocols does not contain a rest-api statement.

/api/core/rest/rpc/get-interface-information

Why wrong: The core path is incorrect.

/api/space/rest/rpc/get-interface-information

Why wrong: Junos Space is a management platform, not the Junos device-local REST API path.

/api/font/rest/rpc/get-interface-information

Why wrong: The font path is incorrect.

The REST API requires proprietary client software installed on the Junos device.

Why wrong: No proprietary client software is required; standard HTTP clients work.

The REST API bypasses the Junos management daemon (MGD) entirely.

Why wrong: All Junos programmatic interfaces interact with MGD.

To clear operational state counters such as interface packet counters.

Why wrong: Operational clearing requires RPC execution, not configuration object deletion.

To terminate an active REST API session and revoke the auth token.

Why wrong: Sessions are stateless or managed via standard HTTP connection teardown; DELETE targets resources.

To discard the entire candidate configuration.

Why wrong: Discarding the entire configuration is done via a specific RPC call, not a generic resource DELETE.

set system services netconf ssl

Why wrong: This configures secure NETCONF over SSH, not the REST API.

set security ipsec-vpn

Why wrong: IPsec VPN is unrelated to REST API transport security.

set system services rest secure

Why wrong: This is not a valid Junos CLI syntax path.

CSV and HTML

Why wrong: CSV and HTML are not supported payload formats for Junos REST programmatic APIs.

JSON and YAML

Why wrong: YAML is not supported by the Junos REST API daemon.

YAML and Protocol Buffers

Why wrong: YAML and gRPC/Protobuf are not natively supported representation formats for the Junos REST API.

set system services api-daemon

Why wrong: api-daemon is not a valid Junos CLI statement for enabling the REST API.

set system services netconf

Why wrong: This enables the NETCONF service, which uses port 830 and a different protocol.

set system services rest http

Why wrong: The correct configuration hierarchy for the REST API uses jpagent, not a direct rest http keyword.

Proxy-Authenticate

Why wrong: Proxy-Authenticate is a response header sent by proxies, not a request header for device authentication.

Junos-Auth-Token

Why wrong: Junos REST API does not use a header named Junos-Auth-Token for basic auth.

X-API-Key

Why wrong: Junos REST API uses standard HTTP Basic Authentication rather than custom X-API-Key headers by default.

Authentication credentials were missing from the HTTP header.

Why wrong: Missing authentication typically yields a 401 Unauthorized status, not a 404 Not Found.

The port 3000 is reserved for NETCONF and cannot be used for REST API requests.

Why wrong: Port 3000 is the default port used by the Junos REST API daemon (jpagent).

Operational data retrieval requires an HTTP POST method instead of GET.

Why wrong: Operational data can be retrieved using HTTP GET requests in the Junos REST API.

Neither protocol utilizes locking mechanisms since Junos uses optimistic concurrency control.

Why wrong: NETCONF explicitly uses pessimistic locking on configuration datastores.

The Junos REST API enforces exclusive global locking which prevents any concurrent NETCONF sessions.

Why wrong: REST API does not permanently block NETCONF sessions globally outside of standard commit concurrency controls.

Both NETCONF and Junos REST API require the client to manually issue an explicit lock RPC before making changes.

Why wrong: The Junos REST API abstracts much of the transactional locking mechanism that NETCONF exposes directly.

application/x-www-form-urlencoded

Why wrong: Form URL-encoded data is not supported for Junos hierarchical configuration updates.

text/xml only

Why wrong: Junos REST API supports JSON representation alongside XML.

multipart/form-data

Why wrong: Multipart form data is used for file uploads, not structured configuration payloads.

There is no functional difference; REST API is simply an alias for NETCONF over port 830.

Why wrong: REST API runs on jpagent (default port 3000/3443), while NETCONF runs on port 830.

NETCONF uses HTTP status codes for error reporting, while REST API uses standard syslog messages.

Why wrong: NETCONF does not use HTTP status codes; HTTP status codes are specific to REST.

REST API requires a persistent WebSocket connection that tunnels NETCONF XML streams.

Why wrong: Junos REST API is a standard HTTP-based request/response interface, not a WebSocket-based NETCONF tunnel.

REST API does not support committing configurations; it is strictly read-only for operational data.

Why wrong: The Junos REST API fully supports configuration modification and committing.

NETCONF requires an explicit <commit> RPC, whereas the Junos REST API executes modifications directly against the running configuration with optional commit flags.

Why wrong: Junos REST API interacts with the candidate configuration by default, and commits can be handled via commit endpoints or parameters.

Both protocols bypass the candidate datastore entirely and write directly to NVRAM.

Why wrong: Junos architecture relies heavily on the candidate datastore and operational databases.

200 OK

Why wrong: 200 OK is generally returned for successful GET or update operations where no new resource URI is established.

302 Found

Why wrong: 302 Found is a redirection status code.

204 No Content

Why wrong: 204 No Content is typically returned for successful DELETE operations or updates with no response body.

/rpc/get-config?interface=ge-0/0/0

Why wrong: This resembles an RPC query style rather than a RESTful resource path.

/netconf?subsystem=ge-0/0/0

Why wrong: This pertains to NETCONF parameters, not REST API URIs.

/api/operational/interfaces/ge-0/0/0

Why wrong: This path targets operational data, not configuration data.

set protocols rest-api https port 8443

Why wrong: Protocols is the wrong hierarchy; REST is a system service.

set system services rest port 8443 secure

Why wrong: This CLI path is incorrect for Junos REST configuration.

set system services netconf https-port 8443

Why wrong: This configures NETCONF parameters, not jpagent.

80

Why wrong: Port 80 is the standard HTTP port, but jpagent defaults to port 3000.

830

Why wrong: Port 830 is reserved for NETCONF over SSH.

8080

Why wrong: Port 8080 is a common alternative HTTP port, but not the Junos REST default.

The HTTP request method should have been POST.

Why wrong: Method mismatch typically results in 405 Method Not Allowed.

The Accept header was missing from the GET request.

Why wrong: Missing Accept headers usually default to application/json or application/xml rather than causing 403.

The jpagent service is disabled on the device.

Why wrong: A disabled service would typically result in connection refused or 404/503 errors.

OAuth 2.0 bearer tokens generated by an external IdP

Why wrong: OAuth 2.0 is not the default built-in authentication mechanism for Junos REST API.

Pre-shared API secret keys stored in environment variables

Why wrong: Pre-shared secret keys are not the native authentication method for Junos REST.

SSH public key authentication exclusively

Why wrong: SSH keys are used for NETCONF/CLI, whereas REST API uses HTTP Basic Auth.