Authentication

The NATS server provides various ways of authenticating clients:

• Token Authentication

• Username/Password credentials

• TLS Certificate

• NKEY with Challenge

• Decentralized JWT Authenticatin/Authorization

Authentication deals with allowing a NATS client to connect to the server. Except for JWT authentication, authentication and authorization are configured in the authorization section of the configuration.

Authorization Map

The authorization block provides authentication configuration as well as authorization:

Property	Description
token	Specifies a global token that can be used to authenticate to the server (exclusive of user and password)
user	Specifies a single global user name for clients to the server (exclusive of token)
password	Specifies a single global password for clients to the server (exclusive of token)
users	A list of user configuration maps
timeout	Maximum number of seconds to wait for client authentication

For multiple username and password credentials, specify a users list.

User Configuration Map

A user configuration map specifies credentials and permissions options for a single user:

Property	Description
user	username for client authentication. (Can also be a user for tls authentication)
password	password for the user entry
nkey	public nkey identifying an user
permissions	permissions map configuring subjects accessible to the user