Teleport

Database Access with Microsoft SQL Server with Active Directory authentication

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How to Connect to Microsoft SQL Server Remotely Using Teleport

Length: 36:23

Teleport can provide secure access to Microsoft SQL Server via the Teleport Database Service. This allows for fine-grained access control through Teleport's RBAC.

In this guide, you will:

Configure an Microsoft SQL Server database with Active Directory authentication.
Join the Microsoft SQL Server database to your Teleport cluster.
Connect to the Microsoft SQL Server database via the Teleport Database Service.

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

This guide will focus on Amazon RDS for SQL Server using AWS-managed Active Directory authentication.

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 >= 14.0.1.

See Installation for details.

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 >= 13.3.9.

You can download these tools from the Cloud Downloads page.

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 >= 14.0.1.

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

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

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

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v13.3.9 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21

tsh version
Teleport v13.3.9 go1.21
Proxy version: 13.3.9Proxy: teleport.example.com

A SQL Server database with Active Directory authentication enabled.
A SQL Server network listener configured with a Certificate using Subject Alternative Names
A Windows machine joined to the same Active Directory domain as the database.
A Linux node joined to the same Active Directory domain as the database. This guide will walk you through the joining steps if you don't have one.
To check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster, sign in with tsh login, then verify that you can run tctl commands on your administrative workstation using your current credentials. For example:
```
tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=[email protected]
tctl status
Cluster  teleport.example.com
Version  14.0.1
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.

Step 1/7. Create a Teleport user

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 2/7. Join the Linux node to Active Directory

Note

You can skip this step if you already have a Linux node joined to the same Active Directory domain as your SQL Server instance.

The Linux node where the Database Service will run must be joined to the same Active Directory domain as the SQL Server database.

Note that in order to be able to join, the Linux node must be able to resolve your Active Directory fully-qualified domain name. For example, for AWS-managed AD, use nameservers provided under "Networking details" on the directory's overview page.

Install necessary packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install sssd realmd krb5-user samba-common packagekit adcli

sudo yum -y update
sudo yum -y install sssd realmd krb5-workstation samba-common-tools

Edit /etc/krb5.conf to disable reverse DNS resolution and set the default realm. Make sure that the [realms] section contains your domain definition and has admin_server and kdc fields set pointing to the domain controllers:

[libdefaults]
default_realm = EXAMPLE.COM
rdns = false

[realms]
  EXAMPLE.COM = {
    kdc = example.com
    admin_server = example.com
  }

Join the realm:

sudo realm join -v -U [email protected] example.com
... * Successfully enrolled machine in realm

Warning

Note that the realm name in [email protected] must be capital case, otherwise the node might not be able to join.

To confirm the node has joined the realm, use the realm list command:

sudo realm list
example.com  type: kerberos  realm-name: EXAMPLE.COM  domain-name: example.com  configured: kerberos-member  server-software: active-directory  client-software: sssd  ...

Step 3/7. Create keytab file

Teleport requires a keytab file to obtain Kerberos service tickets from your Active Directory for authentication with SQL Server. The easiest way to generate it is to use the adutil Linux CLI utility.

Install adutil on the Linux node you have joined to your Active Directory domain:

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/prod.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/msprod.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y adutil

sudo wget -qO /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.asc https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
sudo curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/prod.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/msprod.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y adutil

sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/msprod.repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/8/prod.repo
sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y yum install -y adutil

kinit [email protected]

Use the adutil keytab create command to generate keytab entries for each Active Directory user that will be connecting to the SQL Server database:

adutil keytab create teleport.keytab alice
adutil keytab create teleport.keytab bob

You will be prompted to enter each user's password. All keytab entries will be merged into the same teleport.keytab file.

Assign Service Principal Names

For the adutil keytab create command to work, each user account must be assigned a Service Principal Name, otherwise the command will not be able to determine its kvno (key version number).

To check if the user has any SPNs assigned, run the following command on the Windows machine joined to your Active Directory domain:

setspn -L alice

To assign an SPN to a user account, use the following command:

setspn -s user/alice alice

You can verify entries in the keytab file using klist command:

klist -ke teleport.keytab
Keytab name: FILE:teleport.keytabKVNO Principal---- --------------------------------------------------------------------------   5 [email protected] (aes256-cts-hmac-sha1-96)   2 [email protected] (aes256-cts-hmac-sha1-96)

Warning

You must update the keytab file after updating a user's password to avoid authentication failures.

Step 4/7. 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:

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

Teleport Edition

curl https://goteleport.com/static/install.sh | bash -s 14.0.1

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 v13, 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