Generating an API authorization token

Generate an authorization token to authenticate to Cloud Pak for Data APIs.

Tokens and API keys are subject to authorization checks. Invocation of API endpoints depends on the role and permissions that you are granted in the Cloud Pak for Data platform and services.

Before you begin

You must use an API Key to generate a Bearer token, which can be used to authorize access to Cloud Pak for Data endpoints.

Or, you can generate a ZenApiKey token by using a username and an API key as a base64-encoded token instead of authorizing endpoints with a Bearer token. This alternative requires one API call to an endpoint.

Note: Some APIs do not support ZenApiKey authorization.
The following APIs support ZenApiKey authorization.

Procedure

Use one of the following three methods to generate an API key or an authorization token to authenticate to API endpoints.
Getting an API key (preferred).

See Generating API keys for authentication. You can use this method when SAML 2.0 is configured as a web SSO.

Then, use the API key to generate the ZenApiKey token by using the following command.

echo "<username>:<api_key>" | base64

Then, you can use the ZenApiKey to authenticate to an endpoint.

curl -H "Authorization: ZenApiKey <token>" "https://<cpd_instance_route>/<endpoint>"

Watson Data APIs and Watson Machine Learning APIs do not support ZenApiKey authorization. Use your API key to generate a Bearer token by using the authorize endpoint.

Endpoint
/icp4d-api/v1/authorize
Method
POST
Command syntax

Replace <cpd_instance_route>, <username>, and <api_key> with the correct values for your environment.

curl -X POST \
  'https://<cpd_instance_route>/icp4d-api/v1/authorize'\
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d' {
    "username":<username>,
    "api_key":<api_key>
}'

This command returns a response that contains the authorization token.

Sample response
{
    "_messageCode_": "200",
    "message": "Success",
    "token": "<authorization-token>"
}

The authorization token is used in subsequent API calls.

More information
See also Get authorization token in the Cloud Pak for Data Platform API.
Getting an authorization token when LDAP is enabled.
If Identity and Access Management (IAM) are not enabled, you can generate a token by using your username and password against the validateAuth endpoint.
Endpoint
/v1/preauth/signin
Method
POST
Command syntax

Replace <cpd_instance_route>, <username>, and <password> with the correct values for your environment.

curl -X POST \
  'https://<cpd_instance_route>/v1/preauth/signin'\
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d' {
    "username":<username>,
    "password":<password>
}'

This command returns a response that contains the authorization token.

Sample response
{
    "_messageCode_": "200",
    "message": "Success",
    "token": "<authorization-token>"
}

The authorization token is used in subsequent API calls.

More information
See also Get authorization token in the Cloud Pak for Data Platform API.
Getting an authorization token when IAM is enabled.
If IAM is enabled, you can generate a token by using your username and password against the /idprovider/v1/auth/identitytoken endpoint. Follow these steps, replacing the <variables> with the correct values for your environment.
  1. Use the following command to find the route to access IBM Cloud Pak foundational services. 
    oc get route cp-console -n ${PROJECT_CPD_INST_OPERANDS}

    This command returns <common-services-route>. For example, https://cp-console-cpd-instance.apps.ivt487.cp.example.com.

  2. Get your IAM access token with the following cURL command.
    curl -k -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded;charset=UTF-8" \
-d "grant_type=password&username=<username>&password=<password>&scope=openid" \
https://<common-services-route>/idprovider/v1/auth/identitytoken
    Replace the following values.
    • <username> is your username.
    • <password> is your password.
    • <common-services-route> is the route to access your cluster.

    This command returns an access_token, refresh_token, and id_token. The value that is assigned to access_token is what you need to obtain a platform UI access token in the next step.

  3. Get your platform UI access token by running the following cURL command.
    curl -k -X GET 'https://<cpd_instance_route>/v1/preauth/validateAuth' \
-H 'username: <username>' \
-H 'iam-token: <access-token>'
    Replace the following values.
    • <cpd_instance_route> is the route to the Cloud Pak for Data web client. By default, this URL is https://cpd-<namespace>.apps.<OCP-default-domain>.
    • <username> is your username.
    • <access-token> is the IAM access token that you obtained from the response in step 2.
    The cURL response can resemble the following sample.
    {
    "_messageCode_": "200",
    "message": "Success",
    "token": "<authorization-token>"
}

What to do next

For most Cloud Pak for Data endpoints, you can use the generated API token in the authorization header of subsequent API calls.

curl -H "Authorization: ZenApiKey <token>" "https://<cpd_instance_route>/<endpoint>"

If the ZenApiKey token is not supported, use a generated Bearer token in the authorization header of subsequent API calls.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" "https://<cpd_instance_route>/<endpoint>"