---
name: FileStorage-slapi-usage
title: Setting up your API environment
description: Use the SLAPI to manage file storage volumes, place orders, update authorizations, and query capacity through programmatic access to IBM Cloud services.
last-updated: 2026-06-08
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/FileStorage?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Setting up your API environment
{: #setupAPI}

Use the SLAPI to manage file storage volumes, place orders, update authorizations, and query capacity through programmatic access to IBM Cloud services.
{: shortdesc}

Before you begin, review the [Introduction to the SL API](https://sldn.softlayer.com/article/getting-started/){: external} in the [API Reference](https://sldn.softlayer.com/reference/softlayerapi/){: external}. For more information about the File Storage for Classic service and available data types, see the [`SoftLayer_Network_Storage`](https://sldn.softlayer.com/reference/services/SoftLayer_Network_Storage/){: external} topic.

## Setting up your environment with the SLAPI for Python client
{: #setup-api-environment-import-manager}
{: api}

You can pass your username and SL API Key every time you make an API request. You can also set your credentials as the environmental variables `SL_USERNAME` and `SL_API_KEY`, and create an environment that is only accessible from the IBM Cloud® private network, and a timeout of 4 minutes. See the following example.

```sh
$ export SL_USERNAME=YOUR_USERNAME
$ export SL_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
$ python
>>> import SoftLayer
>>> client = SoftLayer.create_client_from_env(username='YOUR_USERNAME',api_key='YOUR_API_KEY', endpoint_url=SoftLayer.API_PRIVATE_ENDPOINT, timeout=240)
```
{: codeblock}

For day-to-day operation, you might find the managers in the API Python client to be the most convenient means for interacting with the API. Managers abstract many of the complexities of using the API into classes that provide a simpler interface to various services. To interact with File Storage for Classic services, import the `FileStorageManager`.

```python
from SoftLayer import BlockStorageManager, FileStorageManager, Client
```
{: pre}

For more information, see [SL API Client for Python](https://softlayer-python.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api/client/){: external} and [FileStorageManager](https://softlayer-python.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api/managers/SoftLayer.managers.FileStorageManager/#SoftLayer.managers.FileStorageManager.list_file_volumes){: external} topics.