A script calls the cloud dashboard API to list store access points and receives HTTP 401. The stores are up and serving clients. What does the 401 mean?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
401 is the API telling your script it does not recognize the credentials. The stores are still serving clients, so this is not a radio outage. Fix the token before you touch a channel.
Full Explanation
HTTP 401 means the request was not authenticated. On a dashboard API that is a missing, expired, or rejected token. The stores serving clients matches that reading: the network is up, and the script was refused at the door. It does not mean every access point is down. A radio failure would show up on the dashboard and at the stores, not as an authentication status on the API call. 401 is not a success code. A successful list is a 200 with a body. An SSID deletion is a configuration change you would confirm after an authorized call, not a status you infer from a refusal. 401 also does not mean the JSON body was accepted or that a channel plan changed. The server rejected the call before it would apply a change, and this call was only a list. Exam caveat: a 403 is a different refusal, an authenticated token that lacks permission. Renewing a token fixes 401. It does not fix a token that is valid and simply not allowed to list that network. Operational check: send the same call with a current token and confirm a 200 and a non-empty access-point list before you change any store.