This pageapplies toApigee andApigee hybrid.

View Apigee Edge documentation.

The BasicAuthentication policy enables you to use lightweightBasic Authentication for last-mile security. The policy takes a username and password, Base64 encodes them, and writes the resulting value to a variable. The resulting value is in the formBasicBase64EncodedString. You typically write this value to an HTTP header, such as theAuthorization header.

The policy has two modes of operations:

• Encode: Base64 encodes a username and password stored in variables
• Decode: Decodes the username and password from a Base64 encoded string

The username and password are commonly stored in the key/value store and then read from the key/value store at runtime. For details on using key/value store, see Key Value Map Operations policy.

This policy does not enforce Basic Authentication on a request to an API proxy. Instead, use it to encode/decode credentials as Base64, typically when connecting to a backend server or using a service callout policy, such as the Service Callout policy, that requires Basic Authentication.

This policy is anExtensible policy and use of this policy might have cost or utilization implications, depending on your Apigee license. For information on policy types and usage implications, seePolicy types.

Samples

<BasicAuthentication name="ApplyBasicAuthHeader">   <DisplayName>ApplyBasicAuthHeader</DisplayName>   <Operation>Encode</Operation>   <IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>false</IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>   <User ref="BasicAuth.credentials.username" />   <Password ref="BasicAuth.credentials.password" />   <AssignTo createNew="false">request.header.Authorization</AssignTo></BasicAuthentication>

{  "encrypted" : true,  "entry" : [ {    "name" : "username",    "value" : "MyUsername  }, {    "name" : "password",    "value" : "MyPassword  } ],  "name" : "BasicAuthCredentials"}

<KeyValueMapOperationsname="getCredentials"mapIdentifier="BasicAuthCredentials"><Scope>apiproxy</Scope><GetassignTo="credentials.username"index='1'><Key><Parameter>username</Parameter></Key></Get><GetassignTo="credentials.password"index='1'><Key><Parameter>password</Parameter></Key></Get></KeyValueMapOperations>

<BasicAuthentication name="DecodeBaseAuthHeaders">   <DisplayName>Decode Basic Authentication Header</DisplayName>   <Operation>Decode</Operation>   <IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>false</IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>   <User ref="request.header.username" />   <Password ref="request.header.password" />   <Source>request.header.Authorization</Source></BasicAuthentication>

Element reference

The element reference describes the elements and attributes of the BasicAuthentication policy.

<BasicAuthentication async="false" continueOnError="false" enabled="true" name="Basic-Authentication-1">   <DisplayName>Basic Authentication 1</DisplayName>   <Operation>Encode</Operation>   <IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>false</IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>   <User ref="request.queryparam.username" />   <Password ref="request.queryparam.password" />   <AssignTo createNew="false">request.header.Authorization</AssignTo>   <Source>request.header.Authorization</Source></BasicAuthentication>

<BasicAuthentication> attributes

<BasicAuthentication async="false" continueOnError="false" enabled="true" name="Basic-Authentication-1">

The following table describes attributes that are common to all policy parent elements:

<DisplayName> element

Use in addition to thename attribute to label the policy in the management UI proxy editor with a different, natural-language name.

<DisplayName>Policy Display Name</DisplayName>

<Operation> element

Determines whether the policy Base64 encodes or decodes credentials.

<Operation>Encode</Operation>

<IgnoreUnresolvedVariables> element

When set totrue, the policy will not throw an error if a variable cannot be resolved. When used in the context of a BasicAuthentication policy, this setting is usually set tofalse because it is generally beneficial to throw an error if a username or password cannot be found in the variables specified.

<IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>false</IgnoreUnresolvedVariables>

<User> element

• For encoding, use the<User> element to specify the variable containing the username. Username and password values are concatenated with a colon prior to Base64 encoding.
• For decoding, specify the variable where the decoded username is written.

<User ref="request.queryparam.username" />

Attributes

<Password> element

• For encoding, use the<Password> element to specify the variable containing the password.
• For decoding, specify the variable where the decoded password is written.

<Password ref="request.queryparam.password" />

Attributes

<AssignTo> element

Specifies the target variable to set with the encoded or decoded value generated by this policy.

The following example indicates that the policy should set theAuthorization header of the message to the generated value:

<AssignTo createNew="false">request.header.Authorization</AssignTo>

Attributes

<Source> element

For decoding, the variable containing the Base64 encoded string, in the formBasicBase64EncodedString. For example, specifyrequest.header.Authorization, corresponding to theAuthorization header.

<Source>request.header.Authorization</Source>

Flow variables

The following flow variable is set when the policy fails:

• BasicAuthentication.{policy_name}.failed (with a value of true)

This section describes the fault codes and error messages that are returned and fault variables that are set by Apigee when this policy triggers an error. This information is important to know if you are developing fault rules to handle errors. To learn more, seeWhat you need to know about policy errors andHandling faults.

Runtime errors

These errors can occur when the policy executes.

Deployment errors

These errors can occur when you deploy a proxy containing this policy.

Fault variables

These variables are set when a runtime error occurs. For more information, seeWhat you need to know about policy errors.

Example error response

{"fault":{"detail":{"errorcode":"steps.basicauthentication.UnresolvedVariable"},"faultstring":"Unresolved variable : request.queryparam.password"}}

<FaultRule name="Basic Authentication Faults">    <Step>        <Name>AM-UnresolvedVariable</Name>        <Condition>(fault.name Matches "UnresolvedVariable") </Condition>    </Step>    <Step>        <Name>AM-AuthFailedResponse</Name>        <Condition>(fault.name = "InvalidBasicAuthenticationSource")</Condition>    </Step>    <Condition>(BasicAuthentication.BA-Authentication.failed = true) </Condition></FaultRule>

Related topics

Key Value Map Operations policy