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Database Access with MongoDB Atlas

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Setting up Teleport Database Access with MongoDB Atlas

Setting up Teleport Database Access with MongoDB Atlas

Length: 08:15

In this guide you will:

  1. Configure Teleport for accessing your MongoDB Atlas cluster.
  2. Configure self-managed X.509 authentication on your Atlas cluster.
  3. Connect to your Atlas cluster via Teleport.
Teleport Database Access MongoDB Self-Hosted

Prerequisites

(!docs/pages/includes/edition-prereqs-tabs.mdx)

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

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 12.1.2

CA pin sha256:sha-hash-here

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

Step 1/4. 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:

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.

Next, start the Database Service.

On the node where you will run the Database Service, start Teleport, pointing the --auth-server flag at the address of your Teleport Proxy Service:

teleport db start \ --token=/tmp/token \ --auth-server=teleport.example.com:443 \ --name=mongodb-atlas \ --protocol=mongodb \ --uri=mongodb+srv://cluster0.abcde.mongodb.net \ --ca-cert=/path/to/letsencrypt/isrgrootx1.pem \ --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.

On the node where you will run the Teleport Database Service, run teleport start with the following in /etc/teleport.yaml:

version: v3
teleport:
  auth_token: "/tmp/token"
  proxy_server: teleport.example.com:443

# disable services that are on by default
ssh_service: { enabled: no }
proxy_service: { enabled: no }
auth_service: { enabled: no }

db_service:
  enabled: "yes"
  databases:
  - name: "mongodb-atlas"
    protocol: "mongodb"
    uri: "mongodb+srv://cluster0.abcde.mongodb.net"
    ca_cert_file: "/path/to/letsencrypt/isrgrootx1.pem"
    static_labels:
      env: "dev"

See the full YAML reference for details.

See below for details on how to configure the Teleport Database Service.

Connection endpoint

You will need to provide your Atlas cluster's connection endpoint for the db_service.databases[*].uri configuration option or --uri CLI flag. You can find this via the Connect dialog on the Database Deployments overview page:

Connect

Go through the "Setup connection security" step and select "Connect with the MongoDB shell" to view the connection string:

Connection string

Use only the scheme and hostname parts of the connection string in the URI:

--uri=mongodb+srv://cluster0.abcde.mongodb.net

Atlas CA certificate

MongoDB Atlas uses certificates signed by Let's Encrypt.

Download the Let's Encrypt root certificate and use it as a CA in the Database Service configuration:

curl -o /tmp/isrgrootx1.pem https://letsencrypt.org/certs/isrgrootx1.pem.txt

You can then use /tmp/isrgrootx1.pem as the value of the db_service.databases[*].ca_cert_file configuration option or --ca-cert CLI flag.

Step 2/4. 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 3/4. Configure Atlas

Enable self-managed X.509 authentication

Teleport will authenticate with MongoDB Atlas using self-managed X.509 authentication.

First, obtain Teleport CA certificate by running the following tctl auth sign command against your Teleport cluster:

tctl auth sign --format=mongodb --host=mongo --out=mongo

The --host and --ttl flag value doesn't matter in this case since you'll only use the CA certificate which this command will output to mongo.cas file. You can discard the other mongo.crt file.

Go to the Security / Advanced configuration section of your Atlas cluster and toggle "Self-managed X.509 Authentication" on:

X.509

Paste the contents of mongo.cas file in the Certificate Authority edit box and click Save.

Create MongoDB user

On the Security / Database Access page add a new database user with Certificate authentication method:

Add user

Make sure to specify the user as CN=<user> as shown above since MongoDB treats the entire certificate subject as a username. When connecting to a MongoDB cluster, say, as a user alice, Teleport will sign an ephemeral certificate with CN=alice subject.

Note

Case matters so make sure to specify Common Name in the username with capital letters CN=.

Step 4/4. Connect

Log into your Teleport cluster and see available databases:

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

Name Description Labels

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

mongodb-atlas env=dev

Cloud is not available for Teleport v.
Please use the latest version of Teleport Enterprise documentation.

To retrieve credentials for a database and connect to it:

tsh db connect mongodb-atlas

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

tsh db connect --db-user=alice mongodb-atlas
Preparing your client environment

Either the mongosh or mongo command-line clients should be available in PATH in order to be able to connect. The Database Service attempts to run mongosh first and, if mongosh is not in PATH, runs mongo.

Teleport 9.0 added support for mongosh and made it the default Mongo DB client.

To log out of the database and remove credentials:

Remove credentials for a particular database instance.

tsh db logout mongodb-atlas

Remove credentials for all database instances.

tsh db logout

Next steps

  • Take a look at the YAML configuration reference.

Further reading