ReadMe.md

Authentication & Authorization

This involves implementing a comprehensive authentication and authorization system for a web application. Below are the key components and steps involved:

User Registration Process

Students: Implement a registration form that collects necessary details (e.g., name, email, university, major) and verifies their email address. University Admins: Require email verification. Company Recruiters: Implement a business email verification process.

Login Mechanisms

Email/Password: Use secure password storage techniques and implement account lockout mechanisms to prevent brute-force attacks. OAuth: Utilize Laravel Passport for OAuth and SSO implementation.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Define Roles: Define roles (e.g., student, university admin, recruiter) and permissions for each role. Enforce RBAC: Implement middleware to enforce RBAC on routes and resources.

Security Measures

HTTPS: Use HTTPS for all communications. Update and Patch: Regularly update and patch dependencies. Security Considerations: Use JWT tokens with short expiry times and implement refresh tokens. Ensure tokens are signed and encrypted.

Instructions to Run Authentication & Authorization

Prerequisites

• Laravel Framework: Make sure you have Laravel installed.
• Database: Set up a PostgreSQL .env file accordingly.

Step-by-Step Backend Setup

1. Clone the repository to your local machine:

• git clone https://github.com/gitkamau/auth-system.git
• cd backend

2. Install Dependencies Install the necessary dependencies using Composer:

• composer install

3. Generate Application Key

Generate the application key:

• php artisan key:generate

4. Environment Configuration Copy the .env.example file to .env and configure your environment settings:

• cp .env.example .env

Update the .env file with your database credentials and email verification and other necessary configurations:

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql DB_HOST=db_host DB_PORT=5432 DB_DATABASE=database DB_USERNAME=db_username DB_PASSWORD=db_password

MAIL_MAILER=smtp MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com MAIL_PORT=587 MAIL_USERNAME="mail_from" MAIL_PASSWORD="mail_from_password" MAIL_ENCRYPTION=TLS MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="mail_from" MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

5. Run Migrations

Run the database migrations to create the necessary tables:

• php artisan migrate

6. Passport Configuration for Oauth

• php artisan passport:install
• php artisan migrate Generate a client for issuing tokens to users based on their password. This is suitable for first-party clients where the client can securely store and handle user credentials.
• php artisan passport:client --password

Add these to .env for passprt configuration PASSPORT_PRIVATE_KEY="path/to/passport/private key" PASSPORT_PUBLIC_KEY="path/to/passport/public key" PASSPORT_CLIENT_ID=passport client id PASSPORT_CLIENT_SECRET=passport client secret(ensure this is exactly the same as it appears in the oauth_clients table in the databse for the abbove respective client id)

7. Run the application

• php artisan serve

Step-by-Step Frontend Setup

Prerequisites

• Vue Framework: Make sure you have Vue installed.
• cd frontend
• cd auth-frontend

2. Install Dependencies Install the necessary dependencies using npm:

• npm install

3. Environment Configuration Copy the .env.example file to .env and configure your environment settings:

• cp .env.example .env
• Fill in the backend host

VUE_APP_BACKEND_API_URL={backend-host}/api/

4. Run the application

• npm run se4rve