Help Center/ Config/ API Reference/ Calling APIs/ Authentication
Updated on 2024-10-22 GMT+08:00
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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 because it is more secure than token authentication.

Token Authentication

  • The token obtained from through IAM is valid for only 24 hours. You are advised to cash the token for further use, saving you the time to call the IAM API for obtaining user tokens each time you need it.
  • 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.

You can obtain a token by calling the Obtaining a User Token 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.

Config is a global service. When you call the API, set auth.scope in the request body to domain. For details about how to obtain the user token, see Obtaining a User Token.

{
    "auth": {
        "identity": {
            "methods": [
                "password"
            ],
            "password": {
                "user": {
                    "name": "username",   // IAM user name
                    "password": "********",  // IAM user password
                    "domain": {
                        "name": "domainname"  // Name of the account to which the IAM user belongs
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "scope": {
            "domain": {
                "name": "xxxxxxxx"    // Tenant 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 ABCDEFJ...., X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ.... can be added to a request as follows:

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POST https://iam.ap-southeast-1.myhuaweicloud.com/v3.0/OS-USER/users
Content-Type: application/json
X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFJ....

AK/SK Authentication

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

In AK/SK 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, which is 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 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.

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

Parent Topic: Calling APIs