What are Authentication Tokens?
To make API requests you will need an Authentication Token. Authentication Tokens are temporary “security codes” (similar to session cookies) that allow the system to identify who you are, and that you are authorized to make changes in an account.
An authentication token can be generated two ways:
- By submitting a username, password and account name pair
- By submitting an API Key
Either of the above submissions will generate a temporary authentication token. You can then use the temporary token for the remainder of your API requests, whether they be in an automated script or in a test tool you are using.
The expiration of authentication tokens is one day, though this may vary depending on the system in use as it is configurable.
Why have two ways to authenticate? Why not authenticate via username/password from a script?
Usernames and Passwords are great for people, but sometimes people need to change their passwords (either because they lose them or they’ve been compromised). When this happens, it is typically a pain to go around to all your software programs and also change passwords. As a best practice, keep your username/password for use when administering your account and use API Keys when connecting third party software to the platform.
Guard your API Key with care! While authentication tokens expire, API keys do not. You can reset your API Key at any time in the AVP GUI if you feel your token has been compromised.
Generating an Authentication Token via API Key
You can generate an Authentication Token using your API Key. To do this, make an HTTP PUT request to the following URL, and include a JSON payload with the key:
PUT http://api.avpnet.us:{PORT}/v1/api_auth{"data": { "api_key" : "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" }} |
To try this with CURL, you can type:
curl -X PUT http://api.avpnet.us:{PORT}/v1/api_auth -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '{ "data" : { "api_key" : "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" }}' |
You will be returned a JSON response that looks like:
{"auth_token":"555555c8d6f213098729999999999999","status":"success","data":{"account_id":"55555514def94f7ce08cf3e1a999999"}} |