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Teleport

Database Access with Azure Cache for Redis

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This guide will help you to:

  • Install and configure Teleport.
  • Set up access to Azure Cache for Redis.
  • Connect to the database server through Teleport.
Teleport Database Access Azure Cache for Redis Self-Hosted

Prerequisites

  • A running Teleport cluster. For details on how to set this up, see one of our Getting Started guides.

  • The tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 12.1.1.

    tctl version

    Teleport v12.1.1 go1.19

    tsh version

    Teleport v12.1.1 go1.19

    See Installation for details.

  • A running Teleport cluster. For details on how to set this up, see our Enterprise Getting Started guide.

  • The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 12.1.1, which you can download by visiting the customer portal.

    tctl version

    Teleport Enterprise v12.1.1 go1.19

    tsh version

    Teleport v12.1.1 go1.19

Cloud is not available for Teleport v.
Please use the latest version of Teleport Enterprise documentation.
  • Deployed Azure Redis server or Azure Redis Enterprise cluster.
  • Azure administrative privileges to manage service principals and access controls.
  • A host, e.g., an Azure VM instance, where you will run the Teleport Database Service.
  • redis-cli version 6.2 or newer installed and added to your system's PATH environment variable.

To connect to Teleport, log in to your cluster using tsh, then use tctl remotely:

tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com [email protected]
tctl status

Cluster teleport.example.com

Version 12.1.1

CA pin sha256:abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678

You can run subsequent tctl commands in this guide on your local machine.

For full privileges, you can also run tctl commands on your Auth Service host.

To connect to Teleport, log in to your cluster using tsh, then use tctl remotely:

tsh login --proxy=myinstance.teleport.sh [email protected]
tctl status

Cluster myinstance.teleport.sh

Version 12.1.1

CA pin sha256:sha-hash-here

You must run subsequent tctl commands in this guide on your local machine.

Step 1/5. Create a Teleport user

Tip

To modify an existing user to provide access to the Database Access service, see Database Access Access Controls

Create a local Teleport user with the built-in access role:

tctl users add \ --roles=access \ --db-users=\* \ --db-names=\* \ alice
FlagDescription
--rolesList of roles to assign to the user. The builtin access role allows them to connect to any database server registered with Teleport.
--db-usersList of database usernames the user will be allowed to use when connecting to the databases. A wildcard allows any user.
--db-namesList of logical databases (aka schemas) the user will be allowed to connect to within a database server. A wildcard allows any database.
Warning

Database names are only enforced for PostgreSQL and MongoDB databases.

For more detailed information about database access controls and how to restrict access see RBAC documentation.

Step 2/5. Create a Database Service configuration

Install Teleport on the host where you will run the Teleport Database Service:

Use the appropriate commands for your environment to install your package.

Teleport Edition

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 v12. You'll need to update this

file for each major release of Teleport.

Note: if using a fork of Debian or Ubuntu you may need to use '$ID_LIKE'

and the codename your distro was forked from instead of '$ID' and '$VERSION_CODENAME'.

Supported versions are listed here: https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/blob/master/build.assets/tooling/cmd/build-os-package-repos/runners.go#L42-L67

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] \https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/${ID?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/v12" \| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport

Source variables about OS version

source /etc/os-release

Add the Teleport YUM repository for v12. You'll need to update this

file for each major release of Teleport.

Note: if using a fork of RHEL/CentOS or Amazon Linux you may need to use '$ID_LIKE'

and the codename your distro was forked from instead of '$ID'

Supported versions are listed here: https://github.com/gravitational/teleport/blob/master/build.assets/tooling/cmd/build-os-package-repos/runners.go#L133-L153

sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo $(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/v12/teleport.repo")
sudo yum install teleport

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

Optional: Use DNF on newer distributions

$ sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.teleport.dev/teleport.repo

$ sudo dnf install teleport

In the example commands below, update $SYSTEM-ARCH with the appropriate value (amd64, arm64, or arm). All example commands using this variable will update after one is filled out.

curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz.sha256

<checksum> <filename>

curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz

Verify that the checksums match

tar -xvf teleport-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport
sudo ./install

In the example commands below, update $SYSTEM-ARCH with the appropriate value (amd64, arm64, or arm). All example commands using this variable will update after one is filled out.

After Downloading the .deb file for your system architecture, install it with dpkg. The example below assumes the root user:

dpkg -i ~/Downloads/teleport-ent_12.1.1_$SYSTEM-ARCH.deb

Selecting previously unselected package teleport-ent.

(Reading database ... 30810 files and directories currently installed.)

Preparing to unpack teleport-ent_12.1.1_$SYSTEM_ARCH.deb ...

Unpacking teleport-ent 12.1.1 ...

Setting up teleport-ent 12.1.1 ...

After Downloading the .rpm file for your system architecture, install it with rpm:

rpm -i ~/Downloads/teleport-ent-12.1.1.$SYSTEM-ARCH.rpm

warning: teleport-ent-12.1.1.$SYSTEM-ARCH.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA512 Signature, key ID 6282c411: NOKEY

curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz.sha256

<checksum> <filename>

curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz

Verify that the checksums match

tar -xvf teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport-ent
sudo ./install

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations of Teleport Enterprise, package URLs will be slightly different:

curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz.sha256

<checksum> <filename>

curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz

Verify that the checksums match

tar -xvf teleport-ent-v12.1.1-linux-$SYSTEM-ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport-ent
sudo ./install
Cloud is not available for Teleport v.
Please use the latest version of Teleport Enterprise documentation.

Create the Database Service configuration, specifying a region like this:

teleport db configure create \ -o file \ --proxy=tele.example.com:443 \ --token=/tmp/token \ --azure-redis-discovery=eastus

The command will generate a Database Service configuration with Azure Cache for Redis auto-discovery enabled in the eastus region and place it at the /etc/teleport.yaml location.

Tip

Use --azure-redis-discovery=* to discover databases in all regions. In addition to the region, you can optionally specify --azure-resource-group=<resource-group-name>, --azure-subscription=<subscription-id>, or --labels=<key>=<value> to further customize the scopes of the auto-discovery.

Step 3/5. Configure IAM permissions for Teleport

The Teleport Database Service needs Azure IAM permissions to:

  • Discover and register Azure Cache for Redis databases.
  • Retrieve Redis access keys to authenticate with the databases.

Configure an Azure service principal

There are a couple of ways for the Teleport Database Service to access Azure resources:

  • The Database Service can run on an Azure VM with attached managed identity. This is the recommended way of deploying the Database Service in production since it eliminates the need to manage Azure credentials.
  • The Database Service can be registered as an Azure AD application (via AD's "App registrations") and configured with its credentials. This is only recommended for development and testing purposes since it requires Azure credentials to be present in the Database Service's environment.

Go to the Managed Identities page in your Azure portal and click Create to create a new user-assigned managed identity:

Managed identities

Pick a name and resource group for the new identity and create it:

New identity

Take note of the created identity's Client ID:

Created identity

Next, navigate to the Azure VM that will run your Database Service instance and add the identity you've just created to it:

VM identity

Attach this identity to all Azure VMs that will be running the Database Service.

Note

Registering the Database Service as Azure AD application is suitable for test and development scenarios, or if your Database Service does not run on an Azure VM. For production scenarios prefer to use the managed identity approach.

Go the the App registrations page of your Azure Active Directory and click on New registration:

App registrations

Pick a name (e.g. DatabaseService) and register a new application. Once the app has been created, take note of its Application (client) ID and click on Add a certificate or secret:

Registered app

Create a new client secret that the Database Service agent will use to authenticate with the Azure API:

Registered app secrets

The Teleport Database Service uses Azure SDK's default credential provider chain to look for credentials. Refer to Azure SDK Authorization to pick a method suitable for your use-case. For example, to use environment-based authentication with a client secret, the Database Service should have the following environment variables set:

export AZURE_TENANT_ID=

export AZURE_CLIENT_ID=

export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=

Create a custom role

Teleport requires <resource-type>/read permissions for discovery and <resource-type>/listKeys/action permissions for authentication with the Redis servers, but Teleport only needs permissions for the resource types you have.

Here is a sample role definition allowing Teleport to read and list keys for both Azure Redis and Azure Redis Enterprise:

{
    "properties": {
        "roleName": "TeleportDiscovery",
        "description": "Allows Teleport to discover Azure Cache For Redis databases and list keys",
        "assignableScopes": [
            "/subscriptions/11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555"
        ],
        "permissions": [
            {
                "actions": [
                    "Microsoft.Cache/redis/read",
                    "Microsoft.Cache/redis/listKeys/action",
                    "Microsoft.Cache/redisEnterprise/read",
                    "Microsoft.Cache/redisEnterprise/databases/read",
                    "Microsoft.Cache/redisEnterprise/databases/listKeys/action"
                ],
                "notActions": [],
                "dataActions": [],
                "notDataActions": []
            }
        ]
    }
}

The assignableScopes field above includes a subscription /subscriptions/<subscription>, allowing the role to be assigned at any resource scope within that subscription or the subscription scope itself. If you want to further limit the assignableScopes, you can use a resource group /subscriptions/<subscription>/resourceGroups/<group> or a management group /providers/Microsoft.Management/managementGroups/<group> instead.

Now go to the Subscriptions page and select a subscription.

Click on Access control (IAM) in the subscription and select Add > Add custom role:

IAM custom role

In the custom role creation page, click the JSON tab and click Edit, then paste the JSON example and replace the subscription in assignableScopes with your own subscription id:

Create JSON role

Create a role assignment for the Teleport Database Service principal

To grant Teleport permissions, the custom role you created must be assigned to the Teleport service principal - either the managed identity or the app registration you created earlier.

Navigate to the resource scope where you want to make the role assignment. Click Access control (IAM) and select Add > Add role assignment. Choose the custom role you created as the role and the Teleport service principal as a member.

Assign role
Azure Role Assignments

The role assignment should be at a high enough scope to allow the Teleport Database Service to discover all matching databases. See Identify the needed scope for more information about Azure scopes and creating role assignments.

Step 4/5. Start the Database Service

Once the service principal is configured with the required IAM permissions, start the Teleport Database Service:

teleport start --config=/etc/teleport.yaml

Step 5/5. Connect

Log in to your Teleport cluster. Your Azure Cache for Redis databases should appear in the list of available databases:

tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=alice
tsh db ls

Name Description Allowed Users Labels Connect

------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ------------- ------- -------

my-azure-redis Azure Redis server in East US [*] ...

my-azure-redis-enterprise Azure Redis Enterprise server in East US [*] ...

Override default database name

By default, Teleport uses the name of the Azure Cache for Redis resource as the database name. You can override the database name by applying the TeleportDatabaseName Azure tag to the resource. The value of the tag will be used as the database name.

To retrieve credentials for a database and connect to it:

tsh db connect my-azure-redis

Note that the Teleport Database Service will retrieve the access key and authenticate with the Redis server on the backend automatically. Therefore, the AUTH <access-key> command is not required here once connected.

To log out of the database and remove credentials:

tsh db logout my-azure-redis

Troubleshooting

No credential providers error

If you see the error DefaultAzureCredential: failed to acquire a token. in Database Service logs then Teleport is not detecting the required credentials to connect to the Azure SDK. Check whether the credentials have been applied in the machine running the Teleport Database Service and restart the Teleport Database Service. Refer to Azure SDK Authorization for more information.

Timeout errors

The Teleport Database Service needs connectivity to your database endpoints. That may require enabling inbound traffic on the database from the Database Service on the same VPC or routing rules from another VPC. Using the nc program you can verify connections to databases:

nc -zv server-name.postgres.database.azure.com 5432

Connection to server-name.postgres.database.azure.com 5432 port [tcp/postgresql] succeeded!

Next steps

  • Take a look at the YAML configuration reference.

Further reading