Authentication information and impersonation¶

Introduction¶

From any Python code, it is possible to retrieve information about the user or API key currently running this code.

This can be used:

From code running within a recipe or notebook, for the code to know who is running said code
From code running with a plugin recipe, for the code to know who is running said code
From code running outside of DSS, simply to retrieve details of the current API key

Furthermore, the API provides the ability, from a set of HTTP headers, to identify the user represented by these headers. This can be used in the backend of a webapp (either Bokeh or Flask), in order to securely identify which user is currently browsing the webapp.

Code samples¶

Authenticating calls made from a webapp¶

Please see Webapps and security

Impersonating another user¶

As a DSS administrator, it can be useful to be able to perform API calls on behalf of another user.

user = client.get_user("the_user_to_impersonate")
client_as_user = user.get_client_as()

# All calls done using `client_as_user` will appear as being performed by `the_user_to_impersonate` and will inherit
# its permissions

Modifying your own user properties¶

As a user (not an administrator), you can modify some of your own settings:

User properties
User secrets (see below)
Per-user-credentials (see below)

my_user = client.get_own_user()
settings = my_user.get_settings()
settings.user_properties["myprop"] = "myvalue"
settings.save()

Modifying your own user secrets¶

my_user = client.get_own_user()
settings = my_user.get_settings()
settings.add_secret("secretname", "secretvalue")
settings.save()

Entering a per-user-credential for a connection, for yourself¶

To do it for other users, see Users and groups

my_user = client.get_own_user()
settings = my_user.get_settings()
settings.set_basic_connection_credential("myconnection", "username", "password")
settings.save()

Entering a per-user-credential for a plugin preset, for yourself¶

To do it for other users, see Users and groups

my_user = client.get_own_user()
settings = my_user.get_settings()
settings.set_basic_plugin_credential("myplugin", "my_paramset_id", "mypreset_id", "param_name", "username", "password")
settings.save()

Reference documentation¶

DSSClient.get_auth_info(with_secrets=False)

Returns various information about the user currently authenticated using this instance of the API client.

This method returns a dict that may contain the following keys (may also contain others):

authIdentifier: login for a user, id for an API key
groups: list of group names (if context is an user)
secrets: list of dicts containing user secrets (if context is an user)

Param:	with_secrets boolean: Return user secrets
Returns:	a dict
Return type:	dict

DSSClient.get_auth_info_from_browser_headers(headers_dict, with_secrets=False)

Returns various information about the DSS user authenticated by the dictionary of HTTP headers provided in headers_dict.

This is generally only used in webapp backends