Populate with earthaccess.login guide in User Guide Authentications docs

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ and this project uses [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html)
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+- Add authentication to User Guide documentation. ([#763](https://github.com/nsidc/earthaccess/pull/763)) ([@andypbarrett](https://github.com/andypbarrett))
+
 ### Changed
 
 - Use built-in `assert` statements instead of `unittest` assertions in

docs/user_guide/authenticate.md

@@ -1,11 +1,139 @@
 # Authentication
 
-Introduces the `earthaccess.login` method for managing Earthdata Login and cloud credentials.
+You can use `earthaccess` to search for datasets and data without needing to login.  However, to access (download or stream) NASA Earth science data, whether from one of the NASA
+Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) or from NASA Earthdata Cloud, you need
+an Earthdata Login.  You can register for a a free Earthdata Login (EDL) account [here](https://urs.earthdata.nasa.gov/).  
 
-!!! note "This Page is a Work in Progress"
+Once you have an Earthdata Login, the `earthaccess.login` method manages Earthdata Login, and cloud credentials when you are working with cloud-hosted data.
 
-    We are reorganizing and updating the documentation, so not all pages are complete.  If you are looking for information about authenticating using earthaccess see the
-    How-Tos and Tutorials in links below.
+`earthaccess.login` offers three methods of logging in (or authenticating) using EDL: [a manual login method](#login-manually), where you enter EDL username and password manually; and two automatic login methods using EDL credentials stored in a [`.netrc`](#login-using-a-netrc) file or in [environment variables](#login-using-environment-variables).  By default, `earthaccess.login()` will look for a `.netrc` or environment variables first.  If neither of these are found, it will prompt you to enter your username and password.  The three methods are described in detail below.  
 
-    * [Quick start](../quick-start.md)
-    * [How-To Authenticate with earthaccess](../howto/authenticate.md)
+`earthaccess.login` can also be used to login to [different endpoints](#accessing-different-endpoints) and [get S3 credentials](#using-earthaccess-to-get-credentials).
+
+## Login Manually
+
+If you have not created a `.netrc` file or `EARTHDATA_USERNAME` and `EARTHDATA_PASSWORD`, you can use the following approach to login.
+
+```
+>>> import earthaccess
+
+>>> auth = earthaccess.login()
+Enter your Earthdata Login username: your_username
+Enter your Earthdata password: 
+```
+
+You don't need to assign the result of `earthaccess.login()` to a variable but doing so enables access session information.  These are discussed in [Accessing Session Information]().
+
+Setting `strategy=interactive` will force a manual login.
+
+## Login using a `.netrc`
+
+### Creating a `.netrc` file
+
+#### Using `earthaccess.login` to create a `.netrc` file
+
+You can use `earthaccess.login` to create a `.netrc` for you.
+```
+earthaccess.login(persist=True)
+```
+You will then be prompted for your Earthdata Login username and password.  A `.netrc` (or `_netrc`) file will be created automatically.
+
+#### Manually creating a `.netrc` file for Earthdata Login Credentials
+
+=== "MacOS"
+    Type the following on your command line, replacing `<username>` and `<password>` with your
+    Earthdata Login credentials.
+
+    ```
+    echo "machine urs.earthdata.nasa.gov login <username> password <password>" >> $HOME/.netrc
+    chmod 600 $HOME/.netrc
+    ```
+
+=== "Linux"
+    Type the following on your command line, replacing `<username>` and `<password>` with your
+    Earthdata Login credentials.
+
+    ```
+    echo "machine urs.earthdata.nasa.gov login <username> password <password>" >> $HOME/.netrc
+    chmod 600 $HOME/.netrc
+    ```
+
+=== "Windows"
+    In a `CMD` session, create a `%HOME%` environment variable.  The following line
+    creates `%HOME%` from the path in `%USERPROFILE%`, which looks something like
+    `C:\Users\"username"`.
+    ```
+    setx HOME %USERPROFILE%
+    ```
+    You now need to create a `_netrc` file in `%HOME%`.
+    ```
+    echo "machine urs.earthdata.nasa.gov login <username> password <password>" >> %HOME%\_netrc
+    ```
+
+## Login using environment variables
+
+Alternatively, Earthdata Login credentials can be created as environment variables EARTHDATA_USERNAME and EARTHDATA_PASSWORD.
+
+=== "MacOS"
+    If you want to set the environment variables for the current shell session, type the following on the command line.
+    ```
+    export EARTHDATA_USERNAME="username"
+    export EARTHDATA_PASSWORD="password"
+    ```
+    If you want to set these environmental variables permanently, add these two lines to your `.profile` file.
+
+
+=== "Linux"
+    If you want to set the environment variables for the current shell session, type the following on the command line.
+    ```
+    export EARTHDATA_USERNAME="username"
+    export EARTHDATA_PASSWORD="password"
+    ```
+    If you want to set these environmental variables permanently, add these two lines to your `.bashrc` file.
+
+=== "Windows"
+    To set the environment variables for the current `CMD` session, type the following:
+    ```
+    setx EARTHDATA_USERNAME "username"
+    setx EARTHDATA_PASSWORD "password"
+    ```
+    To set these environmental variables permanantly  
+    1. Open the start menu.  
+    2. Search for the "Advanced System Settings" control panel and click on it.  
+    3. Click on the "Environment Variables" button toward the bottom of the screen.  
+    4. Follow the prompts to add the variable to the user table.  
+
+
+## Accessing different endpoints
+
+### Earthdata User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment
+
+If your EDL account is authorized to access the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) system,
+you can set earthaccess to work with its EDL and CMR endpoints
+by setting the `system` argument at login, as follows:
+
+```python
+import earthaccess
+
+earthaccess.login(system=earthaccess.UAT)
+
+```
+
+## Using `earthaccess` to get credentials
+
+`earthaccess.login` is a very convenient way to manage and provide Earthdata Login credentials.  `earthaccess.login` can also be used to obtain S3 credentials to access NASA Earthdata Cloud.  If you use `earthaccess` to access data in the cloud, you do not have to use this option, `earthaccess` handles this.  However, if you are using other packages, such as `h5coro`, `earthaccess` can save a lot of time.
+
+```
+import earthaccess
+import xarray as xr
+import h5coro
+
+auth = earthaccess.login()
+s3_credentials = auth.get_s3_credentials(daac="NSIDC")
+
+s3url_atl23 = 'nsidc-cumulus-prod-protected/ATLAS/ATL23/001/2023/03/' \
+                '01/ATL23_20230401000000_10761801_001_01.h5'
+ds = xr.open_dataset(s3url_atl23, engine='h5coro', 
+                     group='/mid_latitude/beam_1', 
+                     credentials=s3_credentials)
+```