# Authenticating to your Octopus Server

There are two main ways of authenticating to your Octopus Server from your ServerSpec tests.

#### 1. Using Automatic Environment Variables

If you do not provide a URL and API key in your type call, the type will try to fall back to environment variables.

This option is much cleaner to read, and helps to protect you from leaked credentials, but can be less explicit if you're testing against multiple Octopus Instances.

| Variable              | Description                                                                             |
|:----------------------|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| OCTOPUS_CLI_SERVER    | The http or https URL of your Octopus Deploy server: e.g. https://octopus.example.com/  |
| OCTOPUS_CLI_API_KEY   | A valid API key, with rights to view the resources you're testing                       |

The following example will attempt to use the Environment variables. If they are not present, it will raise an exception:

```ruby
describe octopus_deploy_account('myawsaccount').in_space('Octopus') do
    it { should exist }
end
``` 

#### 2. Provide creds with each type

This method makes sense if you're testing multiple Octopus Servers in the same ruby script, and need a visual cue to which servers you're testing in a specific block.
 
Simply provide the URL and API key of your Octopus server as the first two parameters in your type

The following example will connect to a specific server using a specific API key:

```ruby
describe octopus_deploy_account('https://octopus.example.com/', 'API-1234ABCDE5678FGHI', 'myawsaccount').in_space('Octopus') do
    it { should exist }
end
``` 

#### 3. Using your own Environment Variables
You can provide the types with a different environment variable by using Ruby's `ENV[]` hash. 

```ruby
describe octopus_deploy_smtp_config(ENV['MY_OCTOPUS_URL'], ENV['MY_OCTOPUS_API_KEY']) do
  it { should be_configured }
end
```