Generating an API access key

A CDP user account (a user or a machine user) must have API access credentials to access CDP services.

When you use this method to generate an access key and then manually configure the access key in the ~/.cdp/credentials, the access credentials are permanent until they are removed from the ~/.cdp/credentials file. If you prefer that the API access key is shorter-lived, refer to the topic Logging into the CDP CLI/SDK, which describes a method of logging into the CLI/SDK through any SAML-compliant identity provider.

Required roles: Users who have the IAMUser role can generate an access key from their own account page. As a CDP Private Cloud administrator or PowerUser, you can generate an access key for a user account that does not have the IAMUser role.

To generate an API access key using the CLI, refer to the following commands on the IAM documentation page:

To generate an API access key using the Management Console:

  1. Sign in to the CDP console.
  2. Click on your user name in the bottom left corner and then select Profile.
  3. On the user profile page that appears, click Generate Access Key.
  4. On the Generate Access Key pop-up window, click Generate Access Key.
    CDP creates the key and displays the information on the screen.
  5. Copy the access key and private key to a text file and send it to the CDP user who requires it.
    The private key is a very long string of characters. Make sure that you copy the full string. You can optionally download the credentials file containing the access key information by clicking Download Credentials File.
  6. Click Close to exit the access key window.
Once you have generated the access key, you can configure CDP CLI, SDK, or other utilities that require it.