Updated on 2024-07-19 GMT+08:00

Authentication

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

  • AK/SK-based authentication: Requests are authenticated by encrypting the request body using an AK/SK pair. AK/SK-based authentication is recommended because it provides higher security than token-based authentication.
  • Token-based authentication: Requests are authenticated using a token.

AK/SK-based Authentication

  • 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.
  • Tokens obtained using an AK/SK are valid for at least 15 minutes.
  • Both AK/SK in a permanent access key or in a temporary access are supported. The X-Security-Token field must be configured when the AK/SK in the temporary access key is used, and the field value is the security_token of the temporary access key.

In AK/SK-based authentication, AK/SK is used to sign requests and the signature is then added to the requests 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 signature SDK, see API Request Signing Guide.
  • The signing SDK is only used for signing requests and is different from the SDKs provided by services.
  • The local time on the client must be synchronized with the clock server to avoid a large offset in the value of the X-Sdk-Date request header.

    APIG checks the time format and compares the time with the time when APIG receives the request. If the time difference exceeds 15 minutes, APIG will reject the request.

Token-based Authentication

  • 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.
  • Ensure that the token is valid when you use it. Using a token that will soon expire may cause API calling failures.

A token specifies temporary permissions in a computer system. During API authentication using a token, the token is added to requests to get permissions for calling the API.

When calling an API to obtain a user token, you must set auth.scope in the request body to project.

{ 
    "auth": { 
        "identity": { 
            "methods": [ 
                "password" 
            ], 
            "password": { 
                "user": { 
                    "name": "username", 
                    "password": "********", 
                    "domain": { 
                        "name": "domainname" 
                    } 
                } 
            } 
        }, 
        "scope": { 
            "project": { 
                "name": "xxxxxxxx" 
            } 
        } 
    } 
}

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 ABCDEFJ...., X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ.... can be added to a request as follows:

POST https://apig.ap-southeast-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v2/{project_id}/apigw/instances/{instance_id}/api-groups
POST https://{apig_endpoint}/v2/{project_id}/v2/{project_id}/apigw/instances/{instance_id}/api-groups
Content-Type: application/json
X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ....