Authentication

Token-based Authentication

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.

• 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.

The token can be obtained by calling the required API. For more information, see Obtaining a User Token. A project-level token is required for calling this API, that is, auth.scope must be set to project in the request body. Example:

{ 
    "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 ABCDEFG...., add X-Auth-Token: ABCDEFG.... to a request as follows:

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

AK/SK-based Authentication

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 with an AK to sign requests cryptographically. It identifies a request sender and prevents the request from being modified.

Notes and Constraints

• 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.
• 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. 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.
• 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.

Signing a Request

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 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.