Updated on 2024-01-26 GMT+08:00

Authentication

Requests for calling an API can be authenticated using either of the following methods:
  • Token authentication: Requests are authenticated using tokens.
  • AK/SK authentication: Requests are encrypted using AK/SK pairs. AK/SK authentication is recommended as it is more secure than token authentication.

Token Authentication

A token is valid for 24 hours. When using a token for authentication, cache it to avoid frequent calling.

A token is used to acquire temporary permissions. During API authentication using a token, the token is added to the request header to get permissions for calling the API. You can obtain a token by calling the API used to obtain a user token.

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 by setting auth.scope in the request body to project.
  • For a global service, you need to obtain a global token by setting auth.scope in the request body to domain.

A project-level token is required for calling APIs of the VPN service. As such, set auth.scope in the request body to project when you call the API for obtaining a user token.

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

After obtaining a token, add the X-Auth-Token field specifying the token to the request header when calling other APIs. For example, when the token is ABCDEFJ...., add X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ.... to the request header as follows:

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POST https://iam.cn-north-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3/auth/projects
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 larger sizes, use token authentication.

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

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

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

Different from the SDKs provided by services, the signing SDK is used only for signing.