Binding an existing identity to a participant

An existing identity can be issued to a participant using either the API or the command line. Once the existing identity has been bound, the identity can then be used by the participant to interact with the business network in the context of that participant.

When using Hyperledger Fabric, you can bind existing certificates that have been created by using the Hyperledger Fabric certificate authority (CA) or by using other tooling such as cryptogen. The existing certificates must be valid for use for submitting transactions on the Hyperledger Fabric network.

Before you start

Before you follow these steps, you must have added a participant to a participant registry. You must have an existing certificate in the PEM format to bind to the participant. The binder of the existing identity (whether using command line or using the Javascript APIs below) must have ACLs that permit them to bind the identity (to be associated with the participant) in Hyperledger Composer.

The procedure below shows an example using the following model of a participant from the Digital Property sample Business Network Definition: digitalproperty-network

namespace net.biz.digitalPropertyNetwork

participant Person identified by personId {
  o String personId
  o String firstName
  o String lastName
}

The example assumes that an instance, net.biz.digitalPropertyNetwork#mae@biznet.org, of that participant has been created and placed into a participant registry.

Procedure

Connect to the business network and bind an existing identity to a participant
- JavaScript API

  const BusinessNetworkConnection = require('composer-client').BusinessNetworkConnection;

  async function bind() {
      let businessNetworkConnection = new BusinessNetworkConnection();
      let certificate = `-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
            MIIB8DCCAZegAwIBAgIURanHh55fqrUecvHNHtcMKiHJRkwwCgYIKoZIzj0EAwIw
            czELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxEzARBgNVBAgTCkNhbGlmb3JuaWExFjAUBgNVBAcTDVNh
            biBGcmFuY2lzY28xGTAXBgNVBAoTEG9yZzEuZXhhbXBsZS5jb20xHDAaBgNVBAMT
            E2NhLm9yZzEuZXhhbXBsZS5jb20wHhcNMTcwNzI3MTc0MzAwWhcNMTgwNzI3MTc0
            MzAwWjAQMQ4wDAYDVQQDEwVhZG1pbjBZMBMGByqGSM49AgEGCCqGSM49AwEHA0IA
            BAANIGFIrXXr5+h0NfUNJhx5YFQ4w6r182eZYRhc9KvYQhYo5D0ZbecfR9sGX2b6
            0aW+C7bUaXc6DU3pJSD4fNijbDBqMA4GA1UdDwEB/wQEAwIHgDAMBgNVHRMBAf8E
            AjAAMB0GA1UdDgQWBBRwuAyWrGlzVQFqRf0OqoTNuoq7QDArBgNVHSMEJDAigCAZ
            q2WruwSAfa0S5MCpqqZknnCGjjq9AhejItieR+GmrjAKBggqhkjOPQQDAgNHADBE
            AiBcj/JvxmKHel4zQ3EmjITEFhdYku5ijIZEDuR5v9HK3gIgTUbVEfq3MuasVZKx
            rkM5DH3e5ECM7T+T1Ovr+1AK6bs=
            -----END CERTIFICATE-----`
       try { 
           await businessNetworkConnection.connect('admin@digitalPropertyNetwork');
           await businessNetworkConnection.bindIdentity('net.biz.digitalPropertyNetwork.Person#mae@biznet.org', certificate);
           await businessNetworkConnection.disconnect();
       } catch(error) {
           console.error(error);
           process.exit(1);
       }
  }

  bind();

Command line

composer identity bind -c admin@digitalPropertyNetwork -a "resource:net.biz.digitalPropertyNetwork.Person#mae@biznet.org" -e mae-pub.pem

As the participant, test the connection to the business network
- JavaScript API

  const BusinessNetworkConnection = require('composer-client').BusinessNetworkConnection;

  async function testConnection() {
      let businessNetworkConnection = new BusinessNetworkConnection();

      try {
          await businessNetworkConnection.connect('admin@digitalPropertyNetwork');
          let result = await businessNetworkConnection.ping();
          console.log(`participant = ${result.participant ? result.participant : '<no participant found>'}`);
          await businessNetworkConnection.disconnect();
      } catch(error) {
          console.error(error);
          process.exit(1);
      }
  }

  testConnection();

Command line

composer network ping -c admin@digitalPropertyNetwork

The participant ID will be printed to the console, and should match the participant ID that was specified in the composer identity bind command.