← contents

Optional Configuration

Instance Configuration

The instance (new TwoFactorAuth()) can only be configured by the constructor with the following optional arguments

Argument	Default value	Use
$issuer	null	Will be displayed in the users app as the default issuer name when using QR code to import the secret
$digits	6	The number of digits the resulting codes will be
$period	30	The number of seconds a code will be valid
$algorithm	Algorithm::Sha1	The algorithm used (one of Algorithm::Sha1, Algorithm::Sha256, Algorithm::Sha512, Algorithm::Md5)
$qrcodeprovider	null	QR-code provider
$rngprovider	null	Random Number Generator provider
$timeprovider	null	Time provider

Note: the default values for $digits, $period, and $algorithm provide the widest variety of support amongst common authenticator apps such as Google Authenticator. If you choose to use different values for these arguments you will likely have to instruct your users to use a specific app which supports your chosen configuration.

RNG providers

Should you feel the need to use a CSPRNG different than random_bytes(), you can use the rngprovider argument of the constructor to provide an object implementing the IRNGProvider interface.

Time providers

These allow the TwoFactorAuth library to ensure the servers time is correct (or at least within a margin).

You can use the ensureCorrectTime() method to ensure the hosts time is correct. By default this method will compare the hosts time (returned by calling time() on the LocalMachineTimeProvider) to the default NTPTimeProvider and HttpTimeProvider.

Note: the NTPTimeProvider requires your PHP to have the ability to create sockets. If you do not have that ability and wish to use this function, you should pass an array with only an instance of HttpTimeProvider.

Alternatively, you can pass an array of classes that implement the ITimeProvider interface to change this and specify the second argument, leniency in seconds (default: 5). An exception will be thrown if the time difference is greater than the leniency.

Ordinarily, you should not need to monitor that the time on the server is correct in this way however if you choose to, we advise to call this method sparingly when relying on 3rd parties (which both the HttpTimeProvider and NTPTimeProvider do) or, if you need to ensure time is correct on a (very) regular basis to implement an ITimeProvider that is more efficient than the built-in ones (making use of a GPS signal for example).

Secret Configuration

Secrets can be optionally configured with the following optional arguments

Argument	Default value	Use
$bits	80	The number of bits (related to the length of the secret)
$requirecryptosecure	true	Whether you want to require a cryptographically secure source of random numbers

Note: as above, these values provide the widest variety of support amongst common authenticator apps however you may choose to increase the value of $bits (160 or higher is recommended, see RFC 4226 - Algorithm Requirements) as long as it is set to a multiple of 8.