Get an Authentication Token

REST API requests to Compute Classic require basic authentication (user name and password). You can pass your user name and password with every API call or you can pass a valid authentication token.

To get an authentication token, send an request to authenticate the user credentials. If the authentication request succeeds, the server returns a cookie containing an authentication token that is valid for 30 minutes. The client sending the REST API requests must include this cookie in the API requests.

Get an authentication cookie from Compute Classic, as shown in the following cURL command example:
```
curl -i -X POST
     -H "Content-Type: application/oracle-compute-v3+json"
     -d '{"user":"/Compute-575260584/jack.jones@example.com","password":"ft7)Dvjo"}'
        https://api-z999.compute.us0.oraclecloud.com/authenticate/
```
Enter the command on a single line. Line breaks are used in this example for readability.
- 575260584 and jack.jones@example.com are example values. Replace 575260584 with the service instance ID of your Compute Classic account, and jack.jones@example.com with your user name.
- api-z999.compute.us0.oraclecloud.com is an example REST endpoint URL. Change this value to the REST endpoint URL of your Compute Classic site. For information about finding out REST endpoint URL for your site, see Prepare to Use the REST API.

In the response to the POST request, look for the Set-Cookie header, as shown in the following example.

Set-Cookie: nimbula=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; Path=/; Max-Age=1800

Note that the Set-Cookie header name and value are in a single line. Line breaks are used in this example for readability.

Store the authentication cookie in an environment variable, as shown in the following example for a Linux host.

export COMPUTE_COOKIE='nimbula=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; Path=/; Max-Age=1800'

Note that the Set-Cookie header and value are in a single line. Line breaks are used in this example for readability.

After getting an authentication cookie, you can perform operations on Compute Classic resources.