ES6 node async/await unexpected identifier

Question

I have the following code that worked when running against babel. Now that I'm using harmony I get the following error:

let adResult = await ad.isUserValid(domainPath, password);
^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier

The following class function:

class ActiveDirectoryHelper {
    constructor(options) {
        this.config = options.config
        this.ad = null;
    }

    connect() {

        var config = {
            url: this.config.url,
            baseDN: this.config.baseDN,
            attributes: this.config.attributes
        };

        if (this.config.account.user.length > 0) {
            config.username = this.config.account.user;
            config.password = this.config.account.password;
        }

        this.ad = new ActiveDirectory(config);
    }

    async isUserValid(user, password) {
        return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {

            this.ad.authenticate(user, password, (err, auth) => {
                if (err) {
                    reject({
                        code: 500,
                        message: "Unknown authentication error",
                        entry: {}
                    });
                }

                if (auth) {
                    resolve({
                        code: 200,
                        message: "OK",
                        entry: {
                            user: user,
                            password: password
                        }
                    });

                } else {
                    reject({
                        code: 400,
                        message: "Authentication failed",
                        entry: {}
                    });

                }

            });
        });
    }
...

exports.ActiveDirectoryHelper = ActiveDirectoryHelper;

I use the class as follows:

const ad = new ActiveDirectoryHelper({
    config: adConfig
});
ad.connect();

const domainPath = domain.length > 0 ? `${domain}\\${user}` : user;
const adResult = await ad.isUserValid(domainPath, password);

I run the code using the following parameters:

node --harmony --use_strict --harmony-async-await user.js <my parameters>

If I take the await when calling the method:

const adResult = ad.isUserValid(domainPath, password);

then I don't have the error but it also doesnt wait till the method finishes. I've googled the error and it seems like your only able to use await within a function that async is in. But without await outside of the method call, it doesnt wait till its finished. Any ideas?

Solution

It is because you can't use await unless it's in an async function.

See this link for details:

'await Unexpected identifier' on Node.js 7.5