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Teleport

Database Access with Self-Hosted CockroachDB

Version 11.0
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CockroachDB support is available starting from Teleport 8.0.

This guide will help you to:

  1. Install Teleport and connect it to a CockroachDB cluster.
  2. Configure mutual TLS authentication between Teleport and your CockroachDB cluster.
  3. Connect to your CockroachDB cluster via Teleport.

Teleport Database Access CockroachDB Self-Hosted

Prerequisites

  • CockroachDB cluster.
  • A host, e.g., an Amazon EC2 instance, where you will run the Teleport Database Service.

  • The tctl and tsh client tools version >= 11.0.3.

    tctl version
    Teleport v11.0.3 go1.19
    tsh version
    Teleport v11.0.3 go1.19

    See Installation for details.

  • A host where you will install the Teleport Auth Service and Proxy Service.

  • A registered domain name.

  • The tctl and tsh client tools version >= 11.0.3, which you can download by visiting the customer portal.

    tctl version
    Teleport v11.0.3 go1.19
    tsh version
    Teleport v11.0.3 go1.19

  • A host where you will install the Teleport Auth Service and Proxy Service.

  • A registered domain name.

  • The tctl and tsh client tools version >= 10.3.8.

    You can download these from Teleport Cloud Downloads.

    tctl version
    Teleport v10.3.8 go1.19
    tsh version
    Teleport v10.3.8 go1.19

Step 1/3. Install and configure Teleport

Set up the Teleport Auth and Proxy Services

On the host where you will run the Auth Service and Proxy Service, download the latest version of Teleport for your platform from our downloads page and follow the installation instructions.

Teleport requires a valid TLS certificate to operate and can fetch one automatically using Let's Encrypt's ACME protocol. Before Let's Encrypt can issue a TLS certificate for the Teleport Proxy host's domain, the ACME protocol must verify that an HTTPS server is reachable on port 443 of the host.

You can configure the Teleport Proxy service to complete the Let's Encrypt verification process when it starts up.

Run the following teleport configure command, where tele.example.com is the domain name of your Teleport cluster and [email protected] is an email address used for notifications (you can use any domain):

teleport configure --acme [email protected] --cluster-name=tele.example.com > /etc/teleport.yaml

The --acme, --acme-email, and --cluster-name flags will add the following settings to your Teleport configuration file:

proxy_service:
  enabled: "yes"
  web_listen_addr: :443
  public_addr: tele.example.com:443
  acme:
    enabled: "yes"
    email: [email protected]

Port 443 on your Teleport Proxy Service host must allow traffic from all sources.

Next, start the Teleport Auth and Proxy Services:

sudo teleport start

If you do not have a Teleport Cloud account, use our signup form to get started. Teleport Cloud manages instances of the Proxy Service and Auth Service, and automatically issues and renews the required TLS certificate.

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  11.0.3
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  10.3.8
CA pin   sha256:sha-hash-here

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

Set up the Teleport Database Service

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

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

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 v11. 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?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/v11" \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for v11. You'll need to update this
file for each major release of Teleport.
Note: if using a fork of RHEL/CentOS or Amazon Linux you may need to use '$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/v11/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:  Using DNF on newer distributions
$ sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.teleport.dev/teleport.repo
$ sudo dnf install teleport
curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v11.0.3-linux-amd64-bin.tar.gz.sha256
<checksum> <filename>
curl -O https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v11.0.3-linux-amd64-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-v11.0.3-linux-amd64-bin.tar.gz
Verify that the checksums match
tar -xzf teleport-v11.0.3-linux-amd64-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport
sudo ./install
curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm-bin.tar.gz.sha256
<checksum> <filename>
curl -O https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm-bin.tar.gz
Verify that the checksums match
tar -xzf teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport
sudo ./install
curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm64-bin.tar.gz.sha256
<checksum> <filename>
curl -O https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm64-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm64-bin.tar.gz
Verify that the checksums match
tar -xzf teleport-v11.0.3-linux-arm64-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport
sudo ./install
Using this APT repo may result in breaking upgrades upon "apt upgrade" as all major versions will be
published under the same component. We recommend following the instructions in the
"Debian/Ubuntu (DEB)" tab instead.
Download Teleport's PGP public key
sudo curl https://deb.releases.teleport.dev/teleport-pubkey.asc \  -o /usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc
Add the Teleport APT repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] https://deb.releases.teleport.dev/ stable main" \ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.teleport.dev/teleport.repo
sudo yum install teleport
Optional:  Using DNF on newer distributions
$ sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://rpm.releases.teleport.dev/teleport.repo
$ sudo dnf install teleport

Start the Teleport Database Service, pointing the --auth-server flag to the address of your Teleport Proxy Service:

teleport db start \  --token=/tmp/token \  --auth-server=teleport.example.com:3080 \  --name=roach \  --protocol=cockroachdb \  --uri=roach.example.com:26257 \  --labels=env=dev
Note

The --auth-server flag must point to the Teleport cluster's Proxy Service endpoint because the Database Service always connects back to the cluster over a reverse tunnel.

Start the Teleport Database Service, pointing the --auth-server flag at the address of your Teleport Cloud tenant, e.g., mytenant.teleport.sh.

teleport db start \  --token=/tmp/token \  --auth-server=mytenant.teleport.sh:443 \  --name=roach \  --protocol=cockroachdb \  --uri=roach.example.com:26257 \  --labels=env=dev
Tip

You can start the Database Service using a configuration file instead of CLI flags. See YAML reference.

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 2/3. Configure CockroachDB

Create a CockroachDB user

Teleport uses mutual TLS authentication with CockroachDB. Client certificate authentication is available to all CockroachDB users. If you don't have one, connect to your Cockroach cluster and create it:

CREATE USER alice WITH PASSWORD NULL;

The WITH PASSWORD NULL clause prevents the user from using password auth and mandates client certificate auth.

Make sure to assign the user proper permissions within the database cluster. Refer to Create User in the CockroachDB documentation for more information.

Set up mutual TLS

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.

To set up mutual TLS authentication, you need to make sure that:

  • Teleport trusts certificates presented by CockroachDB nodes.
  • CockroachDB trusts client certificates signed by Teleport.

Generate the secrets by running the following tctl command against your Teleport cluster:

tctl auth sign \    --format=cockroachdb \    --host=roach.example.com \    --out=/path/to/cockroach/certs/dir/ \    --ttl=2190h

The command will produce 3 files: ca.crt with Teleport's certificate authority and node.crt / node.key with the node's certificate and key. Do not rename them as this is how CockroachDB expects them to be named. See Node key and certificates for details.

Generate the secrets for each cluster node and make sure to use the hostname Teleport will be using to connect to the nodes in the --host flag.

Tip

You can specify multiple comma-separated addresses e.g. --host=roach,node-1,192.168.1.1.

Restart your CockroachDB nodes, passing them the directory with generated secrets via the --certs-dir flag:

cockroach start \    --certs-dir=/path/to/cockroachdb/certs/dir/ \    # other flags...

Step 3/3. Connect

Log in to your Teleport cluster. Your CockroachDB cluster should appear in the list of available databases:

tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=alice
tsh db ls
Name  Description         Labels
----- ------------------- -------
roach Example CockroachDB env=dev
tsh login --proxy=mytenant.teleport.sh --user=alice
tsh db ls
Name  Description         Labels
----- ------------------- -------
roach Example CockroachDB env=dev

To retrieve credentials for a database and connect to it:

tsh db connect roach

You can optionally specify the database name and the user to use by default when connecting to the database server:

tsh db connect --db-user=alice roach
Note

Either the cockroach or psql command-line client should be available in PATH in order to be able to connect.

To log out of the database and remove credentials:

tsh db logout roach

Next steps

  • Take a look at the YAML configuration reference.
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