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Updated on 2023-10-10 GMT+08:00
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Authentication

You can use either of the following authentication methods when invoking an API:
  • Token authentication: Requests are authenticated using tokens. This method is relatively simple.
  • AK/SK authentication: Requests are encrypted using the access key ID (AK) and secret access key (SK). AK/SK authentication is recommended because it provides higher security than token authentication.

When a partner invokes some APIs, the customer authentication information is required. The partner can obtain this information only using the method provided in Obtaining a User Token with the assume_role Method or Obtaining a Temporary Access Key and Security Token Through an Agencysecuritytoken. Therefore, using token authentication is recommended.

Token Authentication

The validity period of a token is 24 hours. If a token needs to be used, the system caches the token to avoid frequent calling. For details about token validity periods, see Obtaining a User Token Through Password Authentication

A token specifies certain permissions in a computer system. Authenticating using a token adds the token to the request header during API calling to obtain permissions to operate APIs through IAM.

In Constructing Requests, the process of calling the API for obtaining a user token is described as an example. After obtaining the partner or customer token, add the X-Auth-Token header in a request to specify the token when calling other APIs. For example, if the token is ABCDEFJ...., add X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ.... in a request as follows:

Content-Type: application/json
X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ....

AK/SK Authentication

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

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

You can use AK/SK to sign requests based on the signature algorithm or use a dedicated signature SDK to sign the requests. For details about how to sign requests and use the signing SDK, see API Request Signing Guide.

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

Parent topic: RESTful API