# Generating a secure ingest token

Apica Ascent uses an ingest token to secure the ingestion of log data from your data sources into your Apica Ascent deployment. You can generate a secure ingest token using the Apica Ascent UI and the command-line tool, [apicactl](https://github.com/ApicaSystem/apicactl).

### Obtaining an ingest token using UI

You can obtain a secure ingest token from the Account tab in the Settings page on the Apica Ascent UI. 

To begin, click on the username on the navbar, click "**Settings**", and click on the "Account" tab if you are not brought there by default. Your secure ingest token will be displayed under the **Ingest Token** field. Click the **Copy** icon next to the token to copy it to your clipboard.

![Ingest Token](https://2948796384-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LmzGprckLqwd5v6bs6m%2Fuploads%2FMtlpRs9XPAlKko6Uzlrd%2Finesttoken.png?alt=media\&token=23fb0e29-339b-4353-b861-8684ed3fc0b7)

### Generating using apicactl

To generate a secure ingest token, do the following.

1. [Install](https://github.com/ApicaSystem/apicactl?#quickstart) and [configure](https://github.com/ApicaSystem/apicactl/blob/main/docs/config/apicactl_config.md) `apicactl`, if you haven't already.
2. Run the following command to generate a secure ingest token:

   ```bash
   apicactl get httpingestkey
   ```
3. Copy the ingest key generated by running the command above and save it in a secure location.

You can now use this ingest token while configuring Apica Ascent to ingest data from your data sources, especially while using log forwarders like Fluent Bit or Logstash.