Help Center/ Cloud Application Engine/ API Reference/ Calling APIs/ Authentication
Updated on 2025-12-19 GMT+08:00
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Authentication

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

  • AK/SK-based authentication. Requests are encrypted using an access key ID (AK)/secret access key (SK) pair.
  • 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, use token-based authentication.
  • You can use the AK/SK in a permanent or temporary access key. The X-Security-Token field must be configured if the AK/SK in a temporary access key is used, and the field value is 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 request headers for authentication.

  • AK: a unique identifier used in conjunction with an SK to sign requests cryptographically.
  • SK: used 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 sign requests using an AK/SK based on the signature algorithm or using the signing SDK. For details about how to sign requests and use the signing SDK, see AK/SK Signing and Authentication Guide.

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

Token-based Authentication

  • The validity period of a token is 24 hours. If a token is used for authentication, cache it to prevent frequent API calling.
  • Ensure that the token is valid while 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 a request to get permissions for calling the API.

When calling the API for obtaining a user token, 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, add X-Auth-Token to the request header to specify the token when calling other APIs. For example, if the token is ABCDEFG...., add X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFG.... to a request as follows:

POST https://iam.ap-southeast-3.myhuaweicloud.com/v3.0/OS-USER/users 
Content-Type: application/json 
X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFG....
Parent topic: Calling APIs