Teleport

Amazon DynamoDB using the Teleport Application Service

Available for:
OpenSource
Team
Cloud
Enterprise

You can configure the Teleport Application Service to enable secure access to Amazon DynamoDB.

This guide will help you to:

Install the Teleport Application Service.
Set up the Teleport Application Service to access the AWS Console and API.
Connect to your DynamoDB databases through the Teleport Application Service.

Recommendation: Use the Teleport Database Service

The Teleport Application Service enables secure access to DynamoDB via its integration with the AWS management console and API. This is an alternative to accessing DynamoDB through the Teleport Database service, as described in our Database Access with AWS DynamoDB guide.

The Application Service's integration with AWS is not designed specifically for DynamoDB, while the Database Service has a purpose-built DynamoDB integration. As a result, we recommend using the Database Service to enable secure access to DynamoDB.

It is worth noting that the Database Service will allow you to connect with GUI clients, whereas the Application Service does not. On the other hand, a single Application Service configuration can access DynamoDB across regions, while database resources must be configured for each region with DynamoDB databases.

Prerequisites

AWS account with DynamoDB databases.
IAM permissions to create IAM roles.
aws Command Line Interface (CLI) tool installed in PATH.
A host, e.g., an EC2 instance, where you will run the Teleport Application Service.

A running Teleport cluster. For details on how to set this up, see the Getting Started guide.
The tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 14.2.0.

See Installation for details.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport v14.2.0 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  tsh version
Teleport v14.2.0 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.2.0Proxy: teleport.example.com

A Teleport Team account. If you don't have an account, sign up to begin your free trial.
The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool, version >= 14.1.3.

You can download these tools from the Cloud Downloads page.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v14.1.3 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  tsh version
Teleport v14.1.3 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.1.3Proxy: teleport.example.com

A running Teleport Enterprise cluster. For details on how to set this up, see the Enterprise Getting Started guide.
The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 14.2.0.

You can download these tools by visiting your Teleport account workspace.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v14.2.0 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  tsh version
Teleport v14.2.0 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.2.0Proxy: teleport.example.com

A Teleport Enterprise Cloud account. If you don't have an account, sign up to begin a free trial of Teleport Team and upgrade to Teleport Enterprise Cloud.
The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 14.1.3.

You can download these tools from the Cloud Downloads page.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v14.1.3 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  tsh version
Teleport v14.1.3 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.1.3Proxy: teleport.example.com

To check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster, sign in with tsh login, then verify that you can run tctl commands using your current credentials. tctl is supported on macOS and Linux machines. For example:
```
tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=[email protected]
tctl status
Cluster  teleport.example.com
Version  14.2.0
CA pin   sha256:abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678
```
If you can connect to the cluster and run the tctl status command, you can use your current credentials to run subsequent tctl commands from your workstation. If you host your own Teleport cluster, you can also run tctl commands on the computer that hosts the Teleport Auth Service for full permissions.

Not yet a Teleport user?

If you have not yet deployed the Auth Service and Proxy Service, you should follow one of our getting started guides or try our Teleport application access interactive learning track.

We will assume your Teleport cluster is accessible at teleport.example.com and *.teleport.example.com. You can substitute the address of your Teleport Proxy Service. (For Teleport Cloud customers, this will be similar to mytenant.teleport.sh.)

Application Access and DNS

Teleport assigns a subdomain to each application you configure for Application Access. For example, if you enroll Grafana as a resource, Teleport assigns the resource to the grafana.teleport.example.com subdomain.

If you host the Teleport cluster on your own network, you should update your DNS configuration to account for application subdomains. You can update DNS in one of two ways:

Create a single DNS address (A) or canonical name (CNAME) record using wildcard substitution for the subdomain name. For example, create a DNS record with the name *.teleport.example.com.
Create a separate DNS address (A) or canonical name (CNAME) record for each application subdomain.

Modifying DNS ensures that the certificate authority—for example, Let's Encrypt—can issue a certificate for each subdomain and that clients can verify Teleport hosts regardless of the application they are accessing.

If you use the Teleport cloud platform, no DNS updates are needed because your Teleport cluster automatically provides the subdomains and signed TLS certificates for your applications under your tenant address.

Step 1/5. Create an IAM role for DynamoDB access

Create an IAM role that provides access to your DynamoDB resources. Teleport Application Service will assume this IAM role on behalf of the Teleport user that accesses these DynamoDB resources.

There are several methods to create an IAM role:

Visit the Roles page of the AWS Console, then press "Create Role".

Select the "AWS account" option, which creates a default trust policy to allow other entities in this account to assume this role:

Press "Next". Find the AWS-managed policy AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess and then select the policy:

Press "Next". Enter role name ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole and press "Create role":

Create a file with the following trust policy. Replace aws-account-id with your AWS Account ID:

cat > trust-relationship.json <<EOF{  "Version": "2012-10-17",  "Statement": [    {      "Effect": "Allow",      "Principal": {        "AWS": "arn:aws:iam::aws-account-id:root"      },      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole"    }  ]}EOF

Create an IAM role with name ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole:

aws iam create-role --role-name ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-relationship.json

Attach managed policy AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess to the role:

aws iam attach-role-policy --role-name ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess

Add the following resources to your Terraform deployment. Replace aws-account-id with your AWS Account ID:

cat > teleport_iam_role_ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole.tf <<EOFresource "aws_iam_role" "teleport-ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole" {  name = "ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole"  assume_role_policy = jsonencode({    Version = "2012-10-17"    Statement = [      {        Effect = "Allow"        Principal = {          AWS = "arn:aws:iam::aws-account-id:root"        }        Action = "sts:AssumeRole"      },    ]  })}resource "aws_iam_role_policy_attachment" "teleport-ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole-AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess" {  role       = aws_iam_role.teleport-ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRole.name  policy_arn = "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess"}EOF

Then terraform apply.

Apply least-privilege permissions

AmazonDynamoDBFullAccess may provide too much access for your intentions. To use a different IAM policy to reduce permissions, see Managing access permissions to your Amazon DynamoDB Resources for more details.

Step 2/5. Configure the Teleport IAM role mapping

Give your Teleport users permissions to assume IAM roles in your Teleport cluster.

You can do this by creating a Teleport role with the aws_role_arns field listing the IAM role ARN created in the previous step. Create a file called aws-dynamodb-access.yaml with the following content:

cat > aws-dynamodb-access.yaml <<EOFkind: roleversion: v5metadata:  name: aws-dynamodb-accessspec:  allow:    app_labels:      '*': '*'    aws_role_arns:    - arn:aws:iam::aws-account-id:role/ExampleTeleportDynamoDBRoleEOF

Remember to replace aws-account-id with your AWS Account ID.

The aws_role_arns field supports template variables so they can be populated dynamically based on your users' identity provider attributes. Here are some examples:

Use {{internal.aws_role_arns}} in the role definition:

kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: aws-dynamodb-access
spec:
  allow:
    app_labels:
      '*': '*'
    aws_role_arns: ['{{internal.aws_role_arns}}']

Then specify the IAM roles through user traits:

kind: user
version: v2
metadata:
  name: alice
spec:
  roles: ['aws-dynamodb-access']
  traits:
    aws_role_arns: ['arn:aws:iam:123456789000:role/role_for_alice']
---
kind: user
version: v2
metadata:
  name: bob
spec:
  roles: ['aws-dynamodb-access']
  traits:
    aws_role_arns: ['arn:aws:iam:123456789000:role/role_for_bob']

Let's assume that an IAM role has been created for each Teleport user, and the name of the IAM role corresponds to their Email addresses without the Email domain suffix.

Then aws_role_arns can be templated with external.email:

kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: aws-dynamodb-access
spec:
  allow:
    app_labels:
      '*': '*'
    aws_role_arns: ['arn:aws:iam:123456789000:role/{{email.local(external.email)}}']

See Role Templates for details.

Create the new role:

tctl create -f aws-dynamodb-access.yaml

Assign the aws-dynamodb-access role to your Teleport user by running the appropriate commands for your authentication provider:

Retrieve your local user's configuration resource:

tctl get users/$(tsh status -f json | jq -r '.active.username') > out.yaml

Edit out.yaml, adding aws-dynamodb-access to the list of existing roles:

  roles:
   - access
   - auditor
   - editor
+  - aws-dynamodb-access

Apply your changes:
```
tctl create -f out.yaml
```
Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role.

Retrieve your github authentication connector:
```
tctl get github/github --with-secrets > github.yaml
```
Note that the --with-secrets flag adds the value of spec.signing_key_pair.private_key to the github.yaml file. Because this key contains a sensitive value, you should remove the github.yaml file immediately after updating the resource.
Edit github.yaml, adding aws-dynamodb-access to the teams_to_roles section.

The team you should map to this role depends on how you have designed your organization's role-based access controls (RBAC). However, the team must include your user account and should be the smallest team possible within your organization.

Here is an example:
```
  teams_to_roles:
    - organization: octocats
      team: admins
      roles:
        - access
+       - aws-dynamodb-access
```
Apply your changes:
```
tctl create -f github.yaml
```
Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role.

Retrieve your saml configuration resource:
```
tctl get --with-secrets saml/mysaml > saml.yaml
```
Note that the --with-secrets flag adds the value of spec.signing_key_pair.private_key to the saml.yaml file. Because this key contains a sensitive value, you should remove the saml.yaml file immediately after updating the resource.
Edit saml.yaml, adding aws-dynamodb-access to the attributes_to_roles section.

The attribute you should map to this role depends on how you have designed your organization's role-based access controls (RBAC). However, the group must include your user account and should be the smallest group possible within your organization.

Here is an example:
```
  attributes_to_roles:
    - name: "groups"
      value: "my-group"
      roles:
        - access
+       - aws-dynamodb-access
```
Apply your changes:
```
tctl create -f saml.yaml
```
Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role.

Retrieve your oidc configuration resource:
```
tctl get oidc/myoidc --with-secrets > oidc.yaml
```
Note that the --with-secrets flag adds the value of spec.signing_key_pair.private_key to the oidc.yaml file. Because this key contains a sensitive value, you should remove the oidc.yaml file immediately after updating the resource.
Edit oidc.yaml, adding aws-dynamodb-access to the claims_to_roles section.

The claim you should map to this role depends on how you have designed your organization's role-based access controls (RBAC). However, the group must include your user account and should be the smallest group possible within your organization.

Here is an example:
```
  claims_to_roles:
    - name: "groups"
      value: "my-group"
      roles:
        - access
+       - aws-dynamodb-access
```
Apply your changes:
```
tctl create -f oidc.yaml
```
Sign out of the Teleport cluster and sign in again to assume the new role.

Step 3/5. Install the Teleport Application Service

Generate a token

A join token is required to authorize a Teleport Application Service instance to join the cluster. Generate a short-lived join token and save the output of the command:

tctl tokens add \    --type=app \    --app-name=aws \    --app-uri=https://console.aws.amazon.com/console/home

On the host where you will run the Teleport Application Service, copy the token to a file called /tmp/token.

non-standard AWS regions

Replace https://console.aws.amazon.com with https://console.amazonaws-us-gov.com for AWS GovCloud (US) regions or https://console.amazonaws.cn for AWS China regions.

Install and start Teleport

Install Teleport on the host where you will run the Teleport Application Service. See our Installation page for options besides Linux servers.

Select an edition, then follow the instructions for that edition to install Teleport.

Teleport Edition

curl https://goteleport.com/static/install.sh | bash -s 14.2.0

Add the Teleport repository to your repository list:

Download Teleport's PGP public key
sudo curl https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/gpg \-o /usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport APT repository for cloud.
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] \https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/${ID?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/cloud" \| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport-ent-updater

Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-yum.repo")"
sudo yum install teleport-ent-updater
Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path

Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use the dnf config manager plugin to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-yum.repo")"

Install teleport
sudo dnf install teleport-ent-updater

Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path

Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport Zypper repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use Zypper to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo zypper addrepo --refresh --repo $(rpm --eval "https://zypper.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-zypper.repo")

Install teleport
sudo zypper install teleport-ent-updater

OS repository channels

The following channels are available for APT, YUM, and Zypper repos. They may be used in place of stable/v14 anywhere in the Teleport documentation.

Channel name	Description
`stable/<major>`	Receives releases for the specified major release line, i.e. `v14`
`stable/cloud`	Rolling channel that receives releases compatible with current Cloud version
`stable/rolling`	Rolling channel that receives all published Teleport releases

Before installing a teleport binary with a version besides v14, read our compatibility rules to ensure that the binary is compatible with Teleport Cloud.

When running multiple teleport binaries within a cluster, the following rules apply:

Patch and minor versions are always compatible, for example, any 8.0.1 component will work with any 8.0.3 component and any 8.1.0 component will work with any 8.3.0 component.
Servers support clients that are 1 major version behind, but do not support clients that are on a newer major version. For example, an 8.x.x Proxy Service is compatible with 7.x.x resource services and 7.x.x tsh, but we don't guarantee that a 9.x.x resource service will work with an 8.x.x Proxy Service. This also means you must not attempt to upgrade from 6.x.x straight to 8.x.x. You must upgrade to 7.x.x first.
Proxy Services and resource services do not support Auth Services that are on an older major version, and will fail to connect to older Auth Services by default. This behavior can be overridden by passing --skip-version-check when starting Proxy Services and resource services.

Download Teleport's PGP public key
sudo curl https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/gpg \-o /usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport APT repository for v14. You'll need to update this
file for each major release of Teleport.
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] \https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/${ID?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/v14" \| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport-ent