When you send an API request to a Rackspace Cloud service, the service returns an object containing an HTTP status code that denotes the status of the API request. The response body returns additional information about the status.

HTTP status codes come in different classes. Classes are determined by the first digit of the status code:

2xx (Success)

4xx (Client error)

5xx (Server error)

Note

HTTP status codes are not standard across all Rackspace Cloud services. The same code could have multiple status types. Read the response body carefully to accurately determine the nature of the request status.
For a more comprehensive list of HTTP status codes, refer to RFC-7231.

Response body

The response body of HTTP status codes varies by service and type. Responses can contain some or all of these elements:

title
type
code
message
details

Note

Elements such as type, message, and details only appear with 4xx (Client error) and 5xx (Server Error) status codes.

Example: Error message syntax

{ "error": {
 "type": "failure type",
 "code": HTTP status code,
 "message": "detailed message",
 "details": "any specific details about the error"
 }
}

2xx (Success) status codes

The 2xx class status code confirms that a request has succeeded.

The following table lists possible 2xx status codes with their associated descriptions:

Table: 2xx status codes

Status code Response Description
200 OK The request has succeeded. (Some API calls might return 201 instead.)
201 Created The request has been fulfilled and a new resource was created.
202 Accepted The request has been accepted for processing.
204 No Content No additional content sent to response body despite the request being filled.

The following examples show basic 200 OK request. Since the request succeeded, no type, message, or details elements are contained in the response body:

Example: basic success response, JSON

Status: 200 OK
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2015 21:54:21 GMT
X-API-VERSION: 1.0.17
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 190

{
  "status" : "COMPLETED",
  "jobId" : "3593a5e9-83af-4eb8-ae1a-25f07b747d80",
  "callbackUrl" : "https://dns.api.rackspacecloud.com/v1.0/1234/status/3593a5e9-83af-4eb8-ae1a-25f07b747d80"
}

4xx (Client error) status codes

The 4xx class status code indicates that a request contains errors or cannot be fulfilled.

The following table lists possible 4xx status codes with their associated descriptions:

Table: 4xx status codes

Status code Response Description
400 badRequest Invalid parameter values, un-parsable data, or missing required values in the user request.
401 unauthorized The supplied token is not authorized to access the resources, either it’s expired or invalid.
403 forbidden Access to the requested resource was denied.
404 Not Found The back-end services did not find anything matching the request-URI.
405 badMethod The requested method is not allowed for this resource.
409 Conflict Invalid action is requested for the current stack status; more than one object exists for the specified non-unique identifier.
413 requestEntityTooLarge When more than the allowed number of resources is specified for a given stack or the supplied template exceeds the size limit. Also returned when the number of requests per time slice exceeds the limit.
415 badMediaType The requested content type is not supported by this service
422 unprocessableEntity The requested resource could not be processed on at the moment.

The following badRequest examples show errors when the volume size of a request is invalid.

Example: badRequest fault on volume size errors, JSON

HTTP/1.1 400 None  
Content-Length: 120  
Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8  
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:33:48 GMT

{  
   "badRequest":{  
      "code":400,  
      "message":"Volume 'size' needs to be a positive integer value, -1.0 cannot be accepted."  
   }  
}

5xx (Server error) status codes

The 5xx status code indicates that a request cannot be fulfilled because the server has encountered an error.

The following table lists possible 5xx status codes with their associated descriptions:

Table: 5xx status codes

Status code Response Description
500 instanceFault This is a generic server error and the message contains the reason for this error. This error could error could wrap several error messages and is a catch all.
501 notImplemented The requested method or resource is not implemented.
503 serviceUnavailable The request has been accepted for processing.

The following instanceFault examples show the response header and body information returned when the server cannot perform the requested operation due to an error.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<instanceFault code="500"
    xmlns="http://docs.rackspace.com/cbs/api/v1.0">  
    <message> The server has either erred or is incapable of  
        performing the requested operation. </message>  
</instanceFault>

Example: instanceFault response, JSON

HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error  
Content-Length: 120  
Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8  
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2015 00:33:48 GMT

{  
   "instance_fault":{  
      "code":500,  
      "message":"The server has either erred or is incapable of performing the requested operation."  
   }  
}