---
title: API name mapping – hide internal URLs
description: After enabling application programming interface (API) cybersecurity, API name mapping can be configured to protect API servers by hiding internal Uniform Resource Locator (URL)s from the outside world. Internal URLs may also be modified without updating entries in the public DNS server.
component: pingintelligence
version: 5.2
page_id: pingintelligence:pingintelligence_reference_guide:pingintelligence_api_name_mapping_hide_internal_urls
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingintelligence/5.2/pingintelligence_reference_guide/pingintelligence_api_name_mapping_hide_internal_urls.html
revdate: April 3, 2024
---

# API name mapping – hide internal URLs

After enabling application programming interface (API) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
\<p>A specification of interactions available for building software to access an application or service.\</p>
\</div>)* cybersecurity, API name mapping can be configured to protect API servers by hiding internal Uniform Resource Locator (URL) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
\<p>Identifies a resource according to its internet location.\</p>
\</div>)*s from the outside world. Internal URLs may also be modified without updating entries in the public DNS server.

For example, the following JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">
\<p>An open, lightweight data-interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data.\</p>
\</div>)* snippet from an API JSON file maps an external URL ("/index") for shopping.xyz.com to an internal URL ("/a123").

```
"api_metadata": {
 "protocol": "http",
 "url": "/index",
 "hostname": "127.0.0.1",
 "cookie": "JSESSIONID",
 "cookie_idle_timeout": "200m",
 "logout_api_enabled": true,
 "cookie_persistence_enabled": false,
 "oauth2_access_token": false,
 "apikey_qs": "",
 "apikey_header": "",
 "cookie_persistence_enabled": true,
 "login_url": "",
 "enable_blocking": true,
 "api_mapping": {
 "internal_url": ""
 },
 "login_url": "/index/login",
 "api_mapping": {
 "internal_url": "/a123"
 },
```

The following diagram illustrates the data flow from the client to the backend server through the API Security Enforcer (ASE):

![Diagram of data flow from client through ASE to backend servers](../_images/tto1564008996054.png)