Attributes of a Link Element

A link element in the XML document usually has the following attributes:

Rel

The Rel attribute defines the type of relationship between the resource and the linked resource or state. The Rel attribute can identify the following relationships:

Relationship	Description
Action	Identifies an action that can be performed with the linked object. For example, Create, Edit, Delete, Start, Stop, Retry, Clone and so on.
Type of relationship	Identifies the type of relations between the linked resource and the resource. Currently Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager REST API offers two types of relations: The Up value indicates that the linked resource is a parent element for the current resource. For example, the backup repository is a parent for the backup stored in this repository. The Down value indicates that the linked resource is a child element for the current resource. For example, the repository is a child for the backup server to which the repository is connected.
Alternate URL	In the entity reference resource representation, the Alternate value in the Rel attribute of the link identifies that the link is a reference to the resource entity. In the entity resource representation, it identifies the link to the reference representation. For details, see Resource Representation for Key Resources.

Relationship

Description

Action

Identifies an action that can be performed with the linked object. For example, Create, Edit, Delete, Start, Stop, Retry, Clone and so on.

Type of relationship

Identifies the type of relations between the linked resource and the resource. Currently Veeam Backup Enterprise Manager REST API offers two types of relations:

The Up value indicates that the linked resource is a parent element for the current resource. For example, the backup repository is a parent for the backup stored in this repository.
The Down value indicates that the linked resource is a child element for the current resource. For example, the repository is a child for the backup server to which the repository is connected.

Alternate URL

In the entity reference resource representation, the Alternate value in the Rel attribute of the link identifies that the link is a reference to the resource entity. In the entity resource representation, it identifies the link to the reference representation. For details, see Resource Representation for Key Resources.

Type

The Type attribute defines the type of a related resource. The type attribute is used only for linked resources, not actions.

For example, the link below is provided in the representation of the restore point resource:

The link identifies a backup for which the restore point is created:

Rel attribute defines the relationship between the current resource, restore point, and the linked resource, backup — Up. This means that the linked backup resource is a parent element for the restore point resource.
Type attribute defines the type of the linked resource — Backup.
Href attribute contains a URL for the backup resource — /backupServers/21a631e0-af7f-46ba-afbd-273de2e6fd4a.
Name attribute defines a name for the backup — Exchange Backup.

Href

The Href attribute contains a reference to a related resource or an action in the URL format. The client can use the URL to get a representation of a related resource or perform some action with the resource. The resource URL should be treated as an immutable, opaque string: all URLs are controlled by the server, and the client should only select and use the necessary URL.

Name

The Name attribute defines the human-readable name of the resource. The name attribute is used for key resources and may be skipped in links to resource collections and actions to creating new resources.