Secure authentication

Authentication is the act of validating the identity of each user before they access a system. Agora uses digital tokens to authenticate users and their privileges before they access Agora SD-RTN to join . Each token is valid for a limited period and works only for a specific channel. For example, you cannot use the token generated for a channel called AgoraChannel to join the AppTest channel.

This page shows you how to quickly set up an authentication token server, retrieve a token from the server, and use it to connect securely to a specific channel.

An authentication token is a dynamic key that is valid for a maximum of 24 hours. On request, a token server returns an authentication token that is valid to join a specific channel.

When users attempt to connect to an Agora channel from your , your retrieves a token from the token server in your security infrastructure. Your then sends this token to Agora SD-RTN for authentication. Agora SD-RTN validates the token and reads the user and project information stored in the token. A token contains the following information:

• The App ID of your Agora project

• The App certificate of your Agora project

• The channel name

• The user ID of the user to be authenticated (optional)

• The privilege of the user, either as a publisher or a subscriber

• The Unix timestamp showing when the token will expire

The following figure shows the call flow you need to implement to create step-up-authentication with Agora :

To follow this procedure you must have:

• Implemented the Quickstart
• Created a Heroku account

• An Agora account and project.

• A computer with Internet access.

  Ensure that no firewall is blocking your network communication.

To integrate token authentication into your , do the following:

1. Open the project you created in the:
   • UI Kit quickstart
   • SDK quickstart

2. Log in to your Heroku account.

In the Get Started project you implemented, the uses an authentication token obtained manually from Agora Console to join a channel. In a production environment, your retrieves this token from a token server. This section shows you how to:

1. Create and run a token server

2. Retrieve and use tokens from a token server

This section shows you how to deploy a token server on Heroku.

1. Click here and deploy a token server to Heroku.

   Heroku retrieves the project code and necessary files from Github and takes you to a Create New App page. On this page, fill in the following information:

   1. app-name: A name for your token server, containing only lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes.

   2. APP_CERTIFICATE: The obtained from Agora Console.

   3. APP_ID: The App ID obtained from Agora Console.

2. Click Deploy app. Heroku configures and builds the token server.

   You see a message 'Your app was successfully deployed.'

3. Click View.

   Heroku opens the token server URL in your browser. The URL is of the form <app-name>.herokuapp.com where <app-name> is the name you chose for your token server.

   Don’t worry if you see 404 page not found in your browser. Follow the next steps and test your server.

4. Test your server

   1. Ping the server

      Load the following URL in a browser tab. Replace <app-name> with the name of your server.

      https://<app-name>.herokuapp.com/ping
      

      You see the following message in your browser:

      {"message":"pong"}
      

   2. Retrieve a token

      To retrieve an RTC token, send a request to the token server using a URL based on the Token server GET request structure:

      /rtc/:channelName/:role/:tokentype/:uid/?expiry=expireTime
      

      For example: https://my-token-server.herokuapp.com/rtc/MyChannel/1/uid/0/?expiry=300

      Your token server returns the following JSON object to your browser:

      {"rtcToken":"ThisIsAnExampleTokenThisIsAnExampleTokenThisIsAnExampleTokenThisIsAnExampleTokenThisIsAnExampleToken"}
      

To see how to create a token generator inside your IAM system, see Integrate a token generator.

To retrieve tokens from the token server and use them to authenticate your with Agora SD-RTN using Video SDK

To ensure that you have implemented Agora token authentication workflow in your app:

1. Generate a token in Agora Console.

   Users communicate securely using channels in the same project. The App ID you use to generate this token must be the same one you supplied to Heroku.

2. In your browser, navigate to the Agora web demo and update App ID, Channel, and Token with the values for your temporary token, then click Join.

Your magically connects to the same channel you used in web demo. You don’t need to hardcode a token in your app; each channel is secured with a specific token, and each token is refreshed automatically. That’s pretty cool!

This section contains information that completes the information in this page, or points you to documentation that explains other aspects to this product.

The token server RESTful web service used in this page is written in Golang using the Gin framework. Want to use the code in your authentication service? Download the token server source code and binaries for various platforms from Github.

To see how to create a token generator inside your IAM system, see Integrate a token generator.

A token server GET request has the following structure:

/rtc/:channelName/:role/:tokentype/:uid/?expiry=expireTime

• :channelName is the name of the Agora Channel you wish to join

  A channel name may contain numbers with both upper and lower case letters. The name length must be less than 64 characters.

• :role is the user role

  Use 1 for publisher, 2 for subscriber.

• :tokentype is the type of token

  Agora SD-RTN supports both integer user IDs and string user accounts for token generation. To ensure smooth communication, all the users in a channel must use the same type of ID, that is, either the integer uid, or a string userAccount. Best practice is to use the uid.

• :uid is the user ID

  User Id can be any 32-bit unsigned integer. It can be set to 0, if you do not need to authenticate the user based on the user ID.

• expireTime (optional) is the number of seconds after which the token will expire

  By default, a token expires after 24 hours unless a shorter life span is explicitly specified in the token request.