Common REST Parameters and Headers

The following parameters must be included in each REST request to SQS:

Parameter NameDescriptionExample Value
ActionHTTP VerbGET
HeaderDetailed information below.ContentType

The following headers are used in REST requests to SQS.

Authorization Header

A string of the following format: <AWSAccessKeyId>:<Signature>. The Signature is an HMAC-SHA1 hash of the string:

HTTP-METHOD>\n<content-MD5>\n<ContentType>\n<date>\n<path>

For example:

PUT\n\ntext/plain\nThu, 01 Jun 2006 12:12:23 PDT\n/

Once the signature is computed using the AWS Secret Key and the above string the Authorization header should have the following format:

AWS <awsAccessKeyId>:<signature>

where the space is required after 'AWS'.

Other required headers:

Optional header:

See the Authenticating REST Requests topic for more information.

Once the signature is computed using the AWS Secret Access Key and the preceding string, the Authorization header should have the following format (note the required space after 'AWS'):

AWS <awsAccessKeyId>:<signature>