--- title: Configuring the REST service --- > Agent instructions: > **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown. > > - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version. > - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt). ## REST prerequisites Before you can enable the Kentico REST service, you must ensure the following: ### In Windows Go to **Control Panel -> Programs and Features** and click **Turn Windows features on or off** in the left menu. #### Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 1. Expand the **Microsoft .NET Framework ** node in the dialog window. 2. Make sure that both of the following features are installed: - **Windows Communication Foundation HTTP Activation** - **Windows Communication Foundation Non-HTTP Activation** ![](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/configuring-the-rest-service/3.png) #### Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012 1. Expand the **.NET Framework 4.5 Advanced Services** node. 2. Make sure that the **WCF Services -> HTTP Activation** feature is installed. > **Note:** **Error: _"Could not load type 'System.ServiceModel.Activation.HttpModule' from assembly 'System.ServiceModel"_** > > If your application returns the above error after enabling HTTP Activation, you need to manually register the correct version of ASP.NET. > > See for detailed information. ### In IIS Manager 1. Select the website for which you want REST to be enabled. 2. Open the **Authentication** configuration. 3. Ensure that **Anonymous** authentication is enabled. You can also have either **Forms** or **Windows** authentication enabled if required by your environment. 4. Disable **Basic** and other types of authentication (leave _Anonymous_ and either _Forms_ or _Windows_ enabled). ![](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/configuring-the-rest-service/2.png) 5. Select **Application Pools** in the navigation tree. 6. Double-click the application pool used by your website. 7. Make sure the pool uses **Integrated** Managed pipeline mode. ![](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/configuring-the-rest-service/1.png) Once you have these prerequisites met, you can proceed to configuring the REST service in the Kentico instance. ## Configuring the REST service Once you meet the pre-requisites for using the REST service, configure the following settings for the Kentico instance: 1. Edit your application's **web.config** file. 2. Find the **system.webServer** section directly under the root (i.e. not under a specific __ element). 3. Add the following attribute to the **** element: ```html ``` 4. Log in to the Kentico administration interface. 5. Open the **Settings** application. 6. Select the **Integration -> REST** category and configure the settings: | REST setting | Description | | ----------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Service enabled | Enables or disables the Kentico REST service. | | Service enabled for | Choose if the REST service allows access to objects, documents, or both. | | Authentication type | Determines which type of [authentication](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/integrating-3rd-party-systems/kentico-rest-service/authenticating-rest-requests.md) the REST service uses. Supported types are **Basic** and **Forms** authentication.
**Note**: You can authenticate REST requests using the **hash** query string parameter in both modes. | | Always check document security | If disabled, security is not checked when accessing published versions of documents. If enabled, security is always checked. | | Document access is read only | If enabled, the REST service only allows GET requests for documents (documents cannot be modified). | | Object access is read only | If enabled, the REST service only allows GET requests for objects (objects cannot be modified). | | Allowed document types | Specifies a list of [document types](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/developing-websites/defining-website-data-structure/document-types.md) that the REST service is allowed to access. Enter the code names of document types separated by semicolons.
If empty, all document types are allowed. | | Allowed object types | Specifies a list of objects types that the REST service is allowed to access. If empty, all object types are allowed. | | Generate authentication hash for URL | Click the link to generate an [authentication](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/integrating-3rd-party-systems/kentico-rest-service/authenticating-rest-requests.md) hash for specific REST URLs.
Enter the full absolute URL of the REST request, including the protocol, website domain name, virtual directory, [REST path](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/integrating-3rd-party-systems/kentico-rest-service/getting-data-using-rest.md), and query string parameters. For example:
_http://mywebsite.com/rest/content/currentsite/en-us/all/news?format=json_
The system adds the authentication hash parameter to the URL. You can copy the URL and use it to perform the REST request without any other type of authentication.
**Restrictions**:
Only works for GET requests (read only data retrieval)
You cannot use hash parameter authentication for _/all_ object retrieval requests (_\~/rest//all_). | | Default encoding | Sets the character encoding that the REST service uses for requests that do not contain a supported _Accept-Charset_ header. | | Allow sensitive fields for administrators | If enabled, REST requests authenticated using the credentials of users with the Global administrator [privilege level](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/managing-users/user-management.md) are allowed to work with data fields that contain sensitive information (for example fields related to passwords).
Requests authenticated under non-administrator users can NEVER access sensitive fields, regardless of this setting's value. | ### Enabling upload of large data If you are planning to upload large-size data into Kentico through the REST service, it is necessary to specify the required data size limit in the application's _web.config_ file. This can be done by adding the following pieces of code into the _****_ section at the end of the web.config file: 1. Insert a __ element into the __ sub-section: > **Note:** **Note**: This sample sets all limits to 10 MB. You may need to enter different values according to your specific needs. ```html ``` 2. Add a __ element under the __ sub-section: ```html ``` The _baseAddress_ in the code above only contains a sample value and needs to be replaced with the actual root address of the REST service (depending on your website's domain name).