I want to get list of all site collection available on SharePoint Server 2013 using CSOM or REST API but not server object model

Question

I am working on client application for which I don't want to use Server Object Model of SharePoint 2013. I am ready to go for anything other that SOM.

I want to get a complete list of site collections using either CSOM API or REST API or WebServices. Is it possible ? If yes, what is API from Client Object model ( CSOM )

Answer 1

Sahil Malik has written a blog post on how to "Get list of site collections using CSOM in Office365". It may help you.

Below is the code snippet from his blog:

var token = TokenHelper.GetAppOnlyAccessToken("00000003-0000-0ff1-ce00-000000000000", tenantAdminUri.Authority, null).AccessToken;
using (var clientContext = TokenHelper.GetClientContextWithAccessToken("https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com", token))
{
     var tenant = new Tenant(clientContext);
     SPOSitePropertiesEnumerable spp = tenant.GetSiteProperties(0, true);
     clientContext.Load(spp);
     clientContext.ExecuteQuery();
     foreach(SiteProperties sp in spp)
    {
        // you'll get your site collections here
    }
}

Reference: http://blah.winsmarts.com/2014-4-Get_list_of_site_collections_using_CSOM_in_Office365.aspx

If you are looking for REST then using SharePoint Search Query REST Api you can achieve this, below is the sample code:

function searchSites(webUrl,success, failure) {
    var url = webUrl + "/_api/search/query?querytext='contentclass:sts_site'";
    $.ajax({
        url: url,
        method: "GET",
        headers: { "Accept": "application/json; odata=verbose" },
        success: function (data) {
            success(data.d.query);
        },
        error: function (data) {
            failure(data);
        }
    });
}

//print sites info
searchSites(_spPageContextInfo.webAbsoluteUrl, function(query){
    var resultsCount = query.PrimaryQueryResult.RelevantResults.RowCount;
    for (var i = 0; i < resultsCount;i++) {
        var row = query.PrimaryQueryResult.RelevantResults.Table.Rows.results[i];
        var siteUrl = row.Cells.results[6].Value;
        console.log(JSON.stringify(siteUrl));
    }   
},
function(error){
    console.log(JSON.stringify(error));
});

Reference: What is the REST endpoint URL to get list of site collections?

Answer 2

Using CSOM it is possible to get list of all site collections in sharepoint online. But in sharepoint on-premises(2016/2013/2010) it is not possible.