Authentication

Updated on 2025-03-26 GMT+08:00

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Requests for calling an API can be authenticated using either of the following methods:

AK/SK authentication: Requests are encrypted using AK/SK pairs. AK/SK-based authentication is recommended because it is more secure than token-based authentication.
Token-based authentication: Requests are authenticated using a token.

AK/SK-based Authentication

NOTE:

AK/SK-based authentication supports API requests with a body not larger than 12 MB. For API requests with a larger body, token-based authentication is recommended.

In AK/SK-based authentication, AK/SK is used to sign requests and the signature is then added to the request headers for authentication.

AK: access key ID, which is a unique identifier used in conjunction with a secret access key to sign requests cryptographically.
SK: secret access key used in conjunction with an AK to sign requests cryptographically. It identifies a request sender and prevents the request from being modified.

In AK/SK-based authentication, you can use an AK/SK to sign requests based on the signature algorithm or use the signing SDK to sign requests. For details about how to sign requests and use the signing SDK, see API Request Signing Guide.

NOTICE:

The signing SDK is only used for signing requests and is different from the SDKs provided by services.

Token-based Authentication

NOTE:

The validity period of a token is 24 hours. When using a token for authentication, cache it to prevent frequently calling the IAM API used to obtain a user token.

A token specifies temporary permissions in a computer system. During API authentication using a token, the token is added to request headers to get permissions for calling the API. You can obtain a token by calling an API.

A cloud service can be deployed as either a project-level service or global service.

For a project-level service, you need to obtain a project-level token. When you call the API, set auth.scope in the request body to project.
For a global service, you need to obtain a global token. When you call the API, set auth.scope in the request body to domain.

When calling the API used for obtaining a user token, you must set auth.scope in the request body to project.

{
    "auth": {
        "identity": {
            "methods": [
                "password"
            ],
            "password": {
                "user": {
                    "name": "username",   //IAM username.
                    "password": $ADMIN_PASS,  //IAM password. For security, you are advised to store it in ciphertext in the configuration file or environment variable.
                    "domain": {
                        "name": "domainname"  //Name of the account of the IAM user.
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "scope": {
            "project": {
                "name": "xxxxxxxx"    //Project name.
            }
        }
    }
}

After a token is obtained, the X-Auth-Token header field must be added to requests to specify the token when calling other APIs. For example, if the token is ABCDEFG...., X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFG.... can be added to a request as follows:

POST https://iam.myhuaweicloud.eu/v3.0/OS-USER/users
Content-Type: application/json
X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFG....

Parent Topic: Calling APIs

Previous topic: Making an API Request

Next topic: Returned Values

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