Access Tokens

Access Service

From Artifactory version 5.4, access tokens are managed under a new service called Access which is implemented in a separate WAR file, access.war. This change has no impact on how access tokens are used, however, the Artifactory installation file structure now also includes the added WAR file under the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/webapps folder. Artifactory communicates with the Access service over HTTP and assumes it is running in the same Tomcat using the context path of "access". 

The new implementation is backwards compatible to old tokens, so you can still use tokens generated by an older version to authenticate in the new version, however, you cannot use tokens generated by the new version to authenticate in an older version.

Breaking Change: Note that the change is not backwards compatible, so tokens created from version 5.4 and above cannot be used for authentication with versions prior to 5.4. This may impact a circle of trust in which some instances are running versions below 5.4 while others are running version 5.4 and above.

Access Service Logs

The Artifactory Access Service uses the Logback Framework to manage logging. Activity is logged according to type in three different log files which can be found under the ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/logs folder.

The following log files are available: 

Since the Access service runs under the same Tomcat as Artifactory, its logs (catalina.out. localhost etc.) contains entries for both Artifactory and Access.

Configuring Logging

Logging for the Access service is configured in the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/logback.xml file.

Cross-Instance Authentication

Access tokens support cross-instance authentication through a "circle of trust" established by sharing a public certificate among all participating instances. It is up to the Artifactory administrator to make sure that all participating instances are equipped with the certificates. This means that any instance can generate a token to be used with any other instance within the circle of trust. When an Artifactory instance receives a REST API call authenticated by a signed token, it will use the root certificate that includes the public key to verify that its issuer is in the circle of trust. Even while running, Artifactory is aware to any new certificates added and removed from it.  

Setting the Private Key and Root Certificate

It is up to the Artifactory administrator to make sure that all participating instances are equipped with the public key (root certificate).

Access watches a directory of trusted public keys with nio WatchService and reloads the keys when it needs to verify a token.

All that is needed is to place the keys under $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/keys/trusted. 

Access home layout (new entries are in bold):

[$ACCESS_HOME]

|
+-- etc/
   +-- keys/
       |-- root.crt
       |-- private.key
       +-- trusted/
           |-- [name].crt
           |-- [name2].crt
           |-- [name3].crt
           +-- ...

Artifactory HA

This process used to vary depending on whether you are bootstrapping new instances or setting up cross-instance authentication for existing instances (up until version 5.9.0 where the above instructions are outlined).

The steps for each case are described in the following sections.

New Instances

Artifactory Pro or OSS

1. Start up the first Artifactory instance (or cluster node for an HA installation) that will be in your circle of trust. A private key and root certificate are generated and stored under $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/keys.

2. Copy the private key and root certificate files to a location on your file system that is accessible by all other instances/nodes that are in your circle of trust.

3. Before bootstrapping, for each of the other instances/nodes, create the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc folder and create a properties file in it called access.bootstrap.config with the following contents:

   key=/path/to/private.key
   crt=/path/to/root.crt

4. When each instance/node starts up, if the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/access.bootstrap.config file exists, then the private key and root certificate are copied from the specified location into the server's home directory under $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/keys.

Artifactory HA

In the case of an Artifactory HA installation, the private key and root certificate can be found under $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/keys in the primary node.

Existing Instances

Before bootstrapping the instance:

For Artifactory version below 5.6.0:

1. Delete the existing private key and root certificate files (private.key and root.crt) from the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc folder.

2. Create the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/access.bootstrap.config with the following contents:

   key=/path/to/private.key
   crt=/path/to/root.crt

3. Add the following JVM property (under the JAVA_OPTIONS enviroment variable) to $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/bin/artifactory.default:


   -Djfrog.access.force.replace.existing.root.keys=true

4. Start up the instance ready to be added to your circle of trust and verify that the artifactory.log file shows the following entry: 


   *******************************************************************
   *** Forcing replacement of the root private key and certificate ***
   *******************************************************************

5. Delete the JVM property you added to $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/bin/artifactory.default in step 3.
   
   
   For Artifactory versions between 5.6.0 and 5.9.0:

1. Delete the existing private key and root certificate files (private.key and root.crt) from the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc folder.

2. Create the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/etc/access.bootstrap.config with the following contents:

   key=/path/to/private.key
   crt=/path/to/root.crt

3. Save the Configuration Descriptor from the Artifactory UI or use the General Configuration REST API and save it locally under $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/etc/artifactory.config.import.xml.

4. Completely remove the adminToken tags and its value from the Configuration Descriptor file saved from above. 

5. Validate all correct permissions are set on the files above then restart Artifactory.

6. Verify that the $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/logs/artifactory.log or/and $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/logs/access.log file shows the following entry:

   ****************************************************************
   *** Skipping verification of of the root private fingerprint ***
   ****************************************************************
   *** Private key fingerprint will be overwritten ****************
   ****************************************************************

   The $ARTIFACTORY_HOME/access/logs/access.log will show the entries below:

   [ACCESS BOOTSTRAP] Starting JFrog Access bootstrap...
   [ACCESS BOOTSTRAP] Copying private key and root certificate files provided by bootstrap config.
   [ACCESS BOOTSTRAP] Updating server '5d2f9c44-6bff-4723-80e2-45835965d76c' private key finger print to: 2212e73eeb3b4ee604f80045d0028473293f54ba05851ea6a6cbb34fecad2a2b
   [ACCESS BOOTSTRAP] JFrog Access bootstrap finished.

Publish changes to another access peer [http://<artifactoryNode>:<port>/access] successfully

Using Tokens

There are several ways you can use access tokens for authentication.

Basic Authentication

An access token can be used instead of a password for basic authentication. This may be useful when you need a client (such as certain dependency managers) that only supports basic authentication to access Artifactory. In this case, it is important to access Artifactory using the same user name provided when creating the token (with -d "username=<USERNAME>").

For example, to use an access token as a password to ping Artifactory you could use:

curl -u<USERNAME>:<TOKEN> http://ARTIFACTORY_URL/api/system/ping

Authorization Headers

An access token can be used as a bearer token in authorization headers. This is especially useful for authenticating CI servers with Artifactory instead of using credentials, since you don't need to have a user defined in Artifactory if the group provided in -d "member-of-groups:<GROUP>" is configured in that Artifactory instance. As a result, there is no need to manage fictitious users for your different automation tools that need access to Artifactory. 

For example, to use an access token as a bearer token to ping Artifactory you could use:

curl -H"Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>" http://ARTIFACTORY_URL/api/system/ping

Support Authentication for Non-Existing Users

One of the big advantages of access tokens is the fact that you don't have to create a user in Artifactory to use them. When creating a token, you can specify a user name that does not exist, and Artifactory will create a transient user that will only exist as long as the token is valid. This can be useful to in giving access to different tools such as a CI server coordinating a build without having to manage fake user accounts. This method is also more secure since you can assign a new token for each "job" that the external tool runs.

Generating Expirable Tokens

You can limit the validity period of a token by setting the expiry time when generating a token. If set, the token will be valid until the expiration time will pass. 
You can all set a token to be non-expirable by setting the expiry to zero, in which case it will valid indefinitely until actively revoked. 

This value is set by using the "&expires_in=<VALUE_IN_SECONDS>" param when generating the token (see example in REST API section below). If not used the default value will be 3600 meaning your token will be valid for one hour.

Generating Refreshable Tokens

As mentioned above, you can limit the validity period of an token by setting its expiry time. To allow extending access privileges of a token once it has expired, you can provide a refresh token which will generate a new token with the same privileges as the original one. This takes token management out of the hands of its issuer and delegates it to the user who received the token.

Generating Admin Tokens

In general, the scope for a token is defined by specifying the groups into which the token is included, however, an Artifactory administrator can also create a token with admin privileges. This can be useful for JFrog Mission Control and JFrog Xray since both of these complementary applications require admin permissions to work seamlessly with Artifactory. With this capability, when Mission Control or Xray connect to an instance of Artifactory, they can create an admin tokens and use that for authentication instead of using basic authentication with a username and password.

Revoking Tokens

Any refreshable or non-expirable token can be revoked but only by the instance (or cluster) that issued it. A token with an expiry specified will lapse automatically upon reaching its expiry period. A token that is not expirable (expires_in parameter is set to 0) must be actively revoked to terminate its usage. As described above, to support cross-site authentication, a token must be both expirable and refreshable. Note that this kind of token cannot be revoked. The only way to terminate its usage is to revoke its refresh token, so its usage will be terminated next time its expiry period lapses.

REST API

All management of access tokens is done via REST API through the endpoints described below.

Create Token

Creates an access token. 

For details, refer to the REST API documentation for Create Token.

Refresh Token

Refresh an access token to extend its validity. If only the access token and the refresh token are provided (and no other parameters), this pair is used for authentication. If username or any other parameter is provided, then the request must be authenticated by a token that grants admin permissions.

For details, refer to the REST API documentation for Refresh Token.  

Revoke Token

Revoke an access token 

For details, refer to the REST API documentation for Revoke Token.  

Get Service ID

Provides the service ID of an Artifactory instance or cluster

For details, refer to the REST API documentation for Get Service ID.  

UI

Admin users can view details on all created Access Tokens in the Admin module under Security | Access Tokens.

The Access Tokens page allows you to view, revoke, search by subject and filter to view only expirable tokens.

Additional functionalities, such as creating new tokens, is done via REST API.

Troubleshooting

<Server port="8015" shutdown="SHUTDOWN">
    <Service name="Catalina">


        <Connector port="8081"/>


        <!-- This is the optional AJP connector -->
        <Connector port="8019" protocol="AJP/1.3"/>


        <Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="localhost">
            <Host name="localhost" appBase="webapps" startStopThreads="2"/>
        </Engine>
    </Service>
</Server>