How to enable user authentication with the composer-rest-server

[admin]

This tutorial is assuming you have gone through the steps of installing the BNA and starting the network. If you haven't, go here for instructions on that.

Note: Make sure you are logged in (in SSH/Putty) to the same user you used for the installation.

Why user auth?
If you are running the composer-rest-server on a server with a public IP address, it is strongly recommended that it is not open for anyone on the internet to perform actions on it, as it will be a security risk.

Step 1: Install PM2
First things first, every time we close our SSH session, we don't want our composer-rest-server to quit running. We will use PM2 to keep this process running in the background. Run:

Code:

npm install -g pm2

Step 2: Install passport-github
To install our authentication strategy, run:

Code:

npm install -g passport-github

Step 3: Get Auth Secret
Now go to GitHub and go to your user settings.


Then the "Developer Settings".


Now press the "New OAuth App" button.


Fill out the form like this. Replacing my server's IP address with your servers. If you are running this locally, use localhost:3000.


You will now see a Client ID and Client Secret. Make sure to save these for the next few steps.

Step 4: Create a Script File
Make sure you are in your "fabric-tools" directory that was created in the installation process.

Now, in your terminal run:

Code:

touch runrest.sh

Now copy this into your newly created script file:

Code:

export COMPOSER_PROVIDERS='{
  "github": {
    "provider": "github",
    "module": "passport-github",
    "clientID": "THE CLIENT ID FROM GITHUB",
    "clientSecret": "THE CLIENT SECRET FROM GITHUB",
    "authPath": "/auth/github",
    "callbackURL": "/auth/github/callback",
    "successRedirect": "/",
    "failureRedirect": "/"
  }
}'
composer-rest-server -c admin@car-sales -a true -p 3000

Make sure to replace the clientID and clientSecret with the keys created with GitHub in Step 3.

Step 5: Dry Run
Now let's try to execute our script file. Run:

Code:

./runrest.sh

If your screen looks like this, all is well:


If you are getting permission errors, run:

Code:

chmod u+x runrest.sh

Step 6: Permanently run the REST server
Now that our dry run went will with no errors, press CTRL + C and exit the current script execution. Now run:

Code:

pm2 start runrest.sh

Now navigate to your servers IP address, ex: http://294.292.282:3000 or (if localhost) http://localhost:3000.

Try to perform a request (ex: GET request). You will notice you get an authorization error, like this:

Awesome, this means our authentication is working!

Step 7: Authenticate yourself
Now navigate to your auth route. ex: http://294.292.282:3000/auth/github or (if localhost) http://localhost:3000/auth/github

After authenticating yourself you will be able to perform requests.