Introduction to API authentication
In this module you will learn what API authentication and authorization mean and what authentication and authorization methods Frends supports.
Authentication refers to identifying the API client, whether the client is a human or a system.
Authorization refers to the process of verifying whether the authenticated API client has access to the requested action.
Frends might authenticate an API client, but not authorize it to make a certain request. For example, the API client can make a request with a valid API Key, but the API Key may not have right to access all APIs published with Frends.
Authentication and authorization with APIs serves the following purposes:
Limit API access for authenticated and authorized users only.
Track who is using the APIs:
Who is using which APIs and how much.
Limit API access to certain rate limits (= API quota).
Apply different access rights for different users.
The next article is Introduction to API Authentication with Frends