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api-key-format.md

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API Key Format

API Keys or MonitorApiKeys used in dotnet monitor are JSON Web Tokens or JWTs as defined by RFC 7519: JSON Web Token (JWT).

Important

Because the API Key is a Bearer token, it should be treated as a secret and always transmitted over TLS or another protected protocol.

It is possible to make your own API Keys for dotnet monitor by following the format as defined below. Although, it is recommended to use the generatekey command unless you have a specific reason to make your own key.

Token Format

To use a JWT for authentication with dotnet monitor, the token must follow certain constraints. These constraints will be validated by dotnet monitor at configuration load time, authentication time, and authorization time.

For this example, let's consider the API Key given on the Authentication page. This token consists of 3 parts: Header, Payload, and Signature; explained in detail later. This is the entire portion passed as a Bearer type in the Authorization HTTP header:

eyJhbGciOiJFUffffffffffffCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJhdWQiOiJodffffffffffffGh1Yi5jb20vZG90bmV0L2RvdG5ldC1tb25pdG9yIiwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9naXRodWIuY29tL2RvdG5ldC9kb3RuZXQtbW9uaXRvci9nZW5lcmF0ZWtleStNb25pdG9yQXBpS2V5Iiwic3ViIjoiYWU1NDczYjYtOGRhZC00OThkLWI5MTUtNTNiOWM2ODQwMDBlIn0.RZffffffffffff_yIyApvFKcxFpDJ65HJZek1_dt7jCTCMEEEffffffffffffR08OyhZZHs46PopwAsf_6fdTLKB1UGvLr95volwEwIFnHjdvMfTJ9ffffffffffffAU

Note

While all values provided in this document are the correct length and format, the raw values have been edited to prevent this public example being used as a dotnet-monitor configuration.

Header

The header (decoded from the token above) must contain at least 2 elements: alg (or Algorithm), and typ (or Type). dotnet monitor expects the typ to always be JWT for a JSON Web Token. dotnet monitor supports 6 alg values: ES256, ES384, ES512, RS256, RS384, and RS512.

{
  "alg": "ES384",
  "typ": "JWT"
}

Note

The alg requirement is designed to enforce dotnet monitor to use public/private key signed tokens. This allows the key that is stored in configuration (as Authentication__MonitorApiKey__PublicKey) to only contain public key information and thus does not need to be kept secret.

Payload

The payload (also decoded from the token above) must contain at least 4 elements: aud , exp iss, and sub.

  • The aud field (Audience) must to always be https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-monitor which signals that the token is intended for dotnet-monitor.
  • The exp field (Expiration) is the expiration date of the token in the form of an integer that is the number of seconds since Unix epoch.
  • The iss field (Issuer) is any non-empty string defined in Authentication__MonitorApiKey__Issuer, this is used to validate that the token provided was produced by the expected issuer. If Authentication__MonitorApiKey__Issuer is not specified, the value in the token must be https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-monitor/generatekey+MonitorApiKey.
  • The sub field (Subject) is any non-empty string defined in Authentication__MonitorApiKey__Subject, this is used to validate that the token provided is for the expected instance and is user-defined in configuration.

When using the generatekey command, the sub field will be a randomly-generated Guid but the sub field may be any non-empty string that matches the configuration. The iss (or Issuer) field will be set to https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-monitor/generatekey+MonitorApiKey to specify the source of the token.

{
  "aud": "https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-monitor",
  "exp": "1713799523",
  "iss": "https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet-monitor/generatekey+MonitorApiKey",
  "sub": "ae5473b6-8dad-498d-b915-ffffffffffff"
}

Signature

JSON web tokens may be cryptographically signed; dotnet monitor requires all tokens to be signed and supports RSA PKCS1 v1.5 and ECDSA signed tokens, these are tokens with RS* and ES* as alg values. dotnet monitor needs the public key portion of this cryptographic material in order to validate the token. See the Providing a Public Key section for information on how to encode a key.

Providing a Public Key

The public key is provided to dotnet monitor as a JSON Web Key or JWK, as defined by RFC 7517: JSON Web Key (JWK). This key must be serialized as JSON and then Base64 URL encoded into a single string.

dotnet monitor imposes the following constraints on JWKs:

  • The key should not have private key data. The key is only used for signature verification, and thus private key parameters are not needed. A warning message will be shown if the private key data is included.
  • The kty (or Key Type) must be RSA for a RSA public key or EC for an elliptic-curve public key.

The key used for the token in this example is:

{
  "AdditionalData":{},
  "Crv":"P-384",
  "KeyOps":[],
  "Kty":"EC",
  "X":"HoffffffffffffuHyjH_57Yf4AkPLEhI5QOTnRugE192Xz_VqcffffffffffffOj",
  "X5c":[],
  "Y":"JyffffffffffffhzyV-VCMdUttelaY2a8WmileII4MzaYp9j6EffffffffffffFi",
  "KeySize":384,
  "HasPrivateKey":false,
  "CryptoProviderFactory": {
    "CryptoProviderCache":{},
    "CacheSignatureProviders":true,
    "SignatureProviderObjectPoolCacheSize":32
  }
}

The JWK above is then Base64 URL encoded into the following value which is passed to dotnet monitor as Authentication__MonitorApiKey__PublicKey

eyffffffffffffFsRGF0YSI6e30sIkNydiI6IlAtMzg0IiwiS2V5T3BzIjpbXSwiS3R5IjoiRUMiLCJYIjoiTnhIRnhVZ19QM1dhVUZWVzk0U3dUY3FzVk5zNlFLYjZxc3AzNzVTRmJfQ3QyZHdpN0RWRl8tUTVheERtYlJuWSIsIlg1YyI6W10sIlkiOiJmMXBDdmNoUkVpTWEtc1h6SlZQaS02YmViMHdrZmxfdUZBN0Vka2dwcjF5N251Wmk2cy1NcHl5RzhKdVFSNWZOIiwiS2V5U2l6ZSI6Mzg0LCJIYXNQcml2YXRlS2V5IjpmYWxzZSwiQ3J5cHRvUHJvdmlkZXJGYWN0b3J5Ijp7IkNyeXB0b1Byb3ZpZGVyQ2FjaGUiOnt9LCJDYWNoZVNpZ25hdHVyZVByb3ZpZGVycyI6dHJ1ZSwiU2lnbmF0dXJlUHJvdmlkZXJPYmplY3RQb29sQ2FjaGffffffffffff19