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Tokens

Token Resource​

Rancher has an imperative API resource tokens.ext.cattle.io that allows you to generate tokens for authenticating with Rancher.

kubectl api-resources --api-group=ext.cattle.io

To get a description of the fields and structure of the Token resource, run:

kubectl explain tokens.ext.cattle.io

Feature Flag​

The Tokens Public API is available for Rancher v2.12.0 and later, and is enabled by default. You can disable the Tokens Public API by setting the ext-tokens feature flag to false as shown in the example kubectl command below:

kubectl patch feature ext-tokens -p '{"spec":{"value":false}}'

Creating a Token​

caution

The Token value is only returned once in the status.value field.

Only a valid and active Rancher user can create a Token. Otherwise, you will get an error displayed (Error from server (Forbidden)...) when attempting to create a Token.

kubectl create -o jsonpath='{.status.value}' -f -<<EOF
apiVersion: ext.cattle.io/v1
kind: Token
EOF
Error from server (Forbidden): error when creating "STDIN": tokens.ext.cattle.io is forbidden: user system:admin is not a Rancher user

A Token is always created for the user making the request. Attempting to create a Token for a different user, by specifying a different spec.userID, is forbidden and will fail.

  • The spec.description field can be set to an arbitrary human-readable description of the Token's purpose. The default value is empty.

  • The spec.kind field can be set to the kind of Token. The value session indicates a login Token. All other values, including the default empty string, indicate a kind of derived Token.

  • The metadata.name and metadata.generateName fields are ignored, and the name of the new Token is automatically generated using the prefix token-.

    kubectl create -o jsonpath='{.status.value}' -f -<<EOF
    apiVersion: ext.cattle.io/v1
    kind: Token
    spec:
      description: My Token
    EOF

  • If the spec.ttl is not specified, the Token is created with the expiration time defined in the auth-token-max-ttl-minutes setting. The default expiration time is 90 days. If spec.ttl is specified, it should be greater than 0 and less than or equal to the value of the auth-token-max-ttl-minutes setting expressed in milliseconds.

    kubectl create -o jsonpath='{.status.value}' -f -<<EOF
    apiVersion: ext.cattle.io/v1
    kind: Token
    spec:
      ttl: 7200000 # 2 hours
    EOF

Listing Tokens​

Listing previously generated Tokens can help clean up tokens that are no longer needed (e.g., they were issued temporarily). Admins can list all Tokens, while regular users can only see their own.

kubectl get tokens.ext.cattle.io
NAME          KIND   TTL   AGE
token-chjc9          90d   18s
token-6fzgj          90d   16s
token-8nbrm          90d   14s

Use -o wide to get more details:

kubectl get tokens.ext.cattle.io -o wide
NAME          USER         KIND   TTL   AGE   DESCRIPTION
token-chjc9   user-jtghh          90d   24s   example
token-6fzgj   user-jtghh          90d   22s   box
token-8nbrm   user-jtghh          90d   20s   jinx

Viewing a Token​

Admins can get any Token, while regular users can only get their own.

kubectl get tokens.ext.cattle.io token-chjc9
NAME          KIND   TTL   AGE
token-chjc9          90d   18s

Use -o wide to get more details:

kubectl get tokens.ext.cattle.io token-chjc9 -o wide
NAME          USER         KIND   TTL   AGE   DESCRIPTION
token-chjc9   user-jtghh          90d   24s   example

Deleting a Token​

Admins can delete any Token, while regular users can only delete their own. 

kubectl delete tokens.ext.cattle.io token-chjc9
token.ext.cattle.io "token-chjc9" deleted

Updating a Token​

Only the metadata fields spec.description, spec.ttl, and spec.enabled can be updated. All other spec fields are immutable. Admins can extend the spec.ttl field, while regular users can only reduce the value.

An example kubectl command to edit a Token:

kubectl edit tokens.ext.cattle.io token-zp786