Teleport

Database Access with ClickHouse

Available for:
OpenSource
Team
Cloud
Enterprise

The Teleport Clickhouse integration allows you to enroll ClickHouse databases with Teleport.

The Teleport Database Service authenticates to ClickHouse using x509 certificates, which are available for the ClickHouse HTTP and Native (TCP) interfaces. The Teleport Database Service can communicate in both the ClickHouse Native (TCP) and HTTP protocols, and you can select which protocol to use when configuring the Teleport Database Service.

Teleport audit logs for query activity are only supported for the ClickHouse HTTP interface. Teleport support for ClickHouse's native interfaces does not include audit logs for database query activity.

This guide will help you to:

Install and configure a Teleport database agent.
Set up Teleport to access your self-hosted ClickHouse database.
Connect to your database through Teleport.

Prerequisites

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

Either a Linux host or Kubernetes cluster where you will run the Teleport Database Service.

You will also need the following, depending on the ClickHouse protocol you choose:

A self-hosted deployment of ClickHouse Server v22.3 or later.

A self-hosted deployment of ClickHouse Server v23.3 or later.
The clickhouse-client installed and added to your user's PATH environment variable.

Step 1/5. Create a Teleport token and user

The Database Service requires a valid auth token to connect to the cluster. Generate one by running the following command against your Teleport Auth Service and save it in /tmp/token on the node that will run the Database Service:

tctl tokens add --type=db

Tip

To modify an existing user to provide access to the Database 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

Create a local Teleport user with the built-in access and requester roles:

tctl users add \  --roles=access,requester \  --db-users=\* \  --db-names=\* \  alice

Flag	Description
`--roles`	List of roles to assign to the user. The builtin `access` role allows them to connect to any database server registered with Teleport.
`--db-users`	List of database usernames the user will be allowed to use when connecting to the databases. A wildcard allows any user.
`--db-names`	List 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 certificate/key pair

Teleport uses mutual TLS authentication with self-hosted databases. These databases must be configured with Teleport's certificate authority to be able to verify client certificates. They also need a certificate/key pair that Teleport can verify.

If you are using Teleport Cloud, your Teleport user must be allowed to impersonate the system role Db in order to be able to generate the database certificate.

Include the following allow rule in in your Teleport Cloud user's role:

allow:
  impersonate:
    users: ["Db"]
    roles: ["Db"]

Export Teleport's certificate authority and a generated certificate/key pair for host db.example.com with a 1-year validity period:

tctl auth sign --format=db --host=clickhouse.example.com --out=server --ttl=8766h

TTL

We recommend using a shorter TTL, but keep mind that you'll need to update the database server certificate before it expires to not lose the ability to connect. Pick the TTL value that best fits your use-case.

This command will create three files:

server.cas: Teleport's certificate authority
server.key: a generated private key
server.crt: a generated host certificate

Step 3/5. Configure ClickHouse

Use the generated secrets to enable mutual TLS in your clickhouse-server/config.xml configuration file:

<openSSL>
    <server>
       <privateKeyFile>/path/to/server.key</privateKeyFile>
       <caConfig>/path/to/server.cas</caConfig>
       <certificateFile>/path/to/server.crt</certificateFile>
       <verificationMode>strict</verificationMode>
    </server>
</openSSL>

Additionally, your ClickHouse database user accounts must be configured to require a valid client certificate:

CREATE USER alice IDENTIFIED WITH ssl_certificate CN 'alice';

By default, the created user may not have access to anything and won't be able to connect, so let's grant it some permissions:

GRANT ALL ON *.* TO alice;

Step 4/5. Configure and start the Database Service

Install and configure Teleport on the host or Kubernetes cluster where you will run the Teleport Database Service:

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