Token generators

Authentication is the act of validating the identity of each user before they access a system. In Agora SD-RTN™, this key level of security is implemented in the form of token authentication. Agora SD-RTN™ uses digital tokens to authenticate users and their privileges before they can access Interactive Live Streaming. A token is a dynamic key that is generated from a given set of inputs. All Agora core products are protected using token security.

In order to build a seamless authentication process for your users, you need to integrate token generation into your identity management system. This guide helps you integrate Agora token generation libraries into your authentication system. The integration of Agora token generation and authentication in your security infrastructure provides an additional level of security while allowing you to retain control of the overall authentication process.

When a user attempts to connect to an Agora channel, your app requests a token from your authentication system. Your authentication system uses Agora libraries to generate a token specific to the channel, then sends it to your app. The app then sends this token to Agora SD-RTN™ with the request to join a channel. Agora SD-RTN™ validates the token and adds the user to the channel. The following diagram shows the authentication call flow between your app, your authentication system and Agora SD-RTN™:

To follow this procedure you must have created:

• An Agora developer account

• A project in Agora Console with an App ID, and App Certificate.

• Physical media input devices, such as a camera and a microphone.
• A JavaScript package manager such as npm.

• An Agora account and project.

• A computer with Internet access.

  Ensure that no firewall is blocking your network communication.

Open the project in which you wish to integrate token generation.

When a user sends an authentication request to your server, the server must check the user's credentials against your internal security and business logic. If everything is in order, the server returns an Agora authentication token to the app. The app then uses this token to join a channel.

This section shows you how to integrate Agora token generation into your authentication system code.

1. Install the Agora token builder dependency

   To add the token generation methods, you need to add Agora token generation code to your project. To add Agora token builder package to your Node.js project, open your IDE terminal and run the following command:

   npm i agora-access-token
   

2. Import the Agora token builder classes into your project

   To import the Agora token builder classes into your project, add the following code at the beginning of the JavaScript source file where you wish to generate the authentication token:

   const {RtcTokenBuilder, RtmTokenBuilder, RtcRole, RtmRole} = require('agora-access-token')
   

Agora SD-RTN™ uses integer user Ids for token generation. To ensure smooth communication, all the users in a channel must use the integer uid. You generate a token using buildTokenWithUid for an Video SDK token based on uid.

To generate tokens based on user ID, add the following code to the JavaScript source file where you wish to generate the authentication token:

const appId = '<Your app id>';

const appCertificate = '<Your app certificate>';

const channelName = '<Channel name>';

const uid = 0;

const userAccount = "User account";

const role = RtcRole.PUBLISHER;

const expirationTimeInSeconds = 3600

const currentTimestamp = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000)

const privilegeExpiredTs = currentTimestamp + expirationTimeInSeconds

// Build token with uid

const tokenA = RtcTokenBuilder.buildTokenWithUid(appId, appCertificate, channelName, uid, role, privilegeExpiredTs);

console.log("Token with integer number Uid: " + tokenA);

To test the validity of tokens you generate through your integrated authentication system, take the following steps:

1. In the sample code, set the variables appId, and appCertificate to values from Agora Console.

2. Set channelName and expirationTimeInSeconds to the name of the channel to join and the renew time for the token.

3. For the purpose of this test, set uid equal to zero.

4. Use the node <file-name>.js command to run your project.

   The code generates two Video SDK tokens and prints them to the console. The first token is generated using an integer uid and the second token is generated using a userAccount string.

5. Use the token to connect to a Interactive Live Streaming channel.

   1. In your browser, navigate to the Agora web demo.

   2. Fill in the App ID, and Channel with the same values that were used to call the Video SDK token generation method.

   3. Copy the Video SDK uid authentication token from the terminal and paste it into the demo page.

   4. Press Join to connect.

      You see the local video on the screen.

6. Connect to the same channel from another device to confirm that everything works.

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

You have seen that you generate Agora tokens with a few lines of code. Now integrate the code into your identity management system. Have a look at:

• Integrate token generation into standard frameworks

• Implement the authentication workflow.

• For more complete token generator examples, download sample projects for the following programming-languages:

  C++	C#	Go
  Java	Node.js	Python
  PHP	Perl	Ruby