api - What RESTful HTTP request for executing actions on the server?

Question

I have a RESTFul server API which I've built. Some parts of it is not controlling resources and I'm having trouble mapping the relevant URL + HTTP-method to the actions that are executed on the server.

e.g. I can backup every resource on the server with POST /backup, but I'm not sure if this the most appropriate mapping. What about a single resource? Should I specify it with: POST /backup/id or by declaring the id as a variable that I send: POST /backup <id>

Please give me some tips on how to structure this most appropriately so that my API is easy to grasp.

Answer 1

This depends if you create a new backup object on database each time you call, or if you have many backup objects (that is, backups for different files, for example) that hold only the last value.

POST /backups is used to create a new object, and so the correct answer if you always create a new backup.

PUT /backups/id if you are updating your backup data in the same object.