# Dashboard authentication

How people sign in to the Dashboard with its built-in accounts.

The Dashboard authenticates every person who signs in with a built-in account - a username and a password that the Dashboard itself stores.

## Built-in accounts {#built-in-accounts}

Built-in authentication requires no configuration. A container creates an `admin` account, and you set its password with `Zato_Dashboard_Password` - see the [environment variable reference](https://zato.io/tutorials/devops/env-variables.html).

The login page shows a username and password form.

## The OpenAPI console {#the-openapi-console}

The [OpenAPI console](https://zato.io/docs/dev/api-management/openapi.html) shares the Dashboard's authentication. Admins sign in to the console with the same credentials as the Dashboard admin and receive the full OpenAPI document with complete try-it access.

## See also {#see-also}

- [Changing passwords](https://zato.io/docs/admin/security/change-password.html) - Setting the admin password through environment variables
- [OpenAPI administration](https://zato.io/docs/dev/api-management/openapi.html) - The console that shares the Dashboard's authentication
- [Environment variables](https://zato.io/tutorials/devops/env-variables.html) - The Dashboard group alongside all the other variables

## Learn more {#learn-more}

- [Production best practices](https://zato.io/docs/admin/production-best-practices.html) - What to configure before an environment takes real traffic
- [Audit log](https://zato.io/docs/admin/audit-log/) - Every request, response and error, and what you can do with them afterwards
- [Health checks](https://zato.io/docs/admin/health-checks.html) - Have Zato ping your outgoing connections instead of waiting for traffic to fail
- [Logging](https://zato.io/docs/admin/logging.html) - What is written where, and how to ship it to Splunk, Loki, Elastic or Datadog
- [GitOps with enmasse](https://zato.io/docs/admin/enmasse.html) - Keep the whole environment in git as YAML and import it anywhere