Which encoding method is used to transmit the username and password to obtain the X-Auth-Token?

When you process the POST to obtain the X-Auth-Token from a device such as Cisco Catalyst Center, you will pass the username and password encoded in Base 64 encoding. Although you will request the X-Auth-Token over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), it is an encryption protocol and not an encoding method. Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services are a means for authentication and often used with 802.1X; AAA is not an encoding method. When you request an X-Auth-Token, you will request it via basic authentication; this is a Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) method of submitting the username and password and not an encoding method.