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Version: 14.x

Database Access with Cassandra and ScyllaDB

Teleport can provide secure access to Cassandra or ScyllaDB via the Teleport Database Service. This allows for fine-grained access control through Teleport's RBAC.

In this guide, you will:

  1. Configure an Cassandra or ScyllaDB with mutual TLS authentication.
  2. Join the Cassandra or ScyllaDB database to your Teleport cluster.
  3. Connect to the Cassandra or ScyllaDB database via the Teleport Database Service.

Teleport Database Access Cassandra Self-Hosted

Prerequisites​

Database access for Cassandra & ScyllaDB is available starting from Teleport v11.0.

  • A running Teleport cluster version 14.3.33 or above. If you want to get started with Teleport, sign up for a free trial or set up a demo environment.

  • The tctl admin tool and tsh client tool.

    Visit Installation for instructions on downloading tctl and tsh.

  • Self-hosted Cassandra or ScyllaDB instance.
  • The cqlsh Cassandra client installed and added to your system's PATH environment variable.
  • To check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster, sign in with tsh login, then verify that you can run tctl commands using your current credentials. tctl is supported on macOS and Linux machines. For example: 
    $ tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com [email protected]
    $ tctl status
    # Cluster  teleport.example.com
    # Version  14.3.33
    # 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 1/5. Set up the Teleport Database Service​

The Database Service requires a valid join token to join your Teleport cluster. Run the following tctl command and save the token output in /tmp/token on the server that will run the Database Service:

$ tctl tokens add --type=db --format=text
abcd123-insecure-do-not-use-this

Install and configure Teleport where you will run the Teleport Database Service:

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

The following command updates the repository for the package manager on the local operating system and installs the provided Teleport version:

$ curl https://cdn.teleport.dev/install-v14.3.33.sh | bash -s 14.3.33

On the host where you will run the Teleport Database Service, start Teleport with the appropriate configuration.

Note that a single Teleport process can run multiple different services, for example multiple Database Service agents as well as the SSH Service or Application Service. The step below will overwrite an existing configuration file, so if you're running multiple services add --output=stdout to print the config in your terminal, and manually adjust /etc/teleport.yaml.

Generate a configuration file at /etc/teleport.yaml for the Database Service:

$ sudo teleport db configure create \
   -o file \
   --token=/tmp/token \
   --proxy=teleport.example.com:443 \
   --name=cassandra \
   --protocol=cassandra \
   --uri=cassandra.example.com:9042 \
   --labels=env=dev

Configure the Teleport Database Service to start automatically when the host boots up by creating a systemd service for it. The instructions depend on how you installed the Teleport Database Service.

On the host where you will run the Teleport Database Service, enable and start Teleport:

$ sudo systemctl enable teleport
$ sudo systemctl start teleport

You can check the status of the Teleport Database Service with systemctl status teleport and view its logs with journalctl -fu teleport.

Tip

A single Teleport process can run multiple services, for example multiple Database Service instances as well as other services such the SSH Service or Application Service.

Step 2/5. 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
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 3/5. 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.

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"]

Follow the instructions below to generate TLS credentials for your database.

When connecting to Cassandra, sign the certificate for the hostname over which Teleport will be connecting to it.

$ tctl auth sign --format=cassandra --host=cassandra.example.com --out=server --ttl=2190h
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.

The command will create two files:

  • server.keystore with generated private key and user certificate in JKS format.
  • server.truststore with Teleport's certificate authority in JKS format.

Step 4/5. Configure Cassandra/Scylla​

Follow the instructions for your database to enable TLS communication with your Teleport cluster:

To configure Cassandra to accept TLS connections, add the following to your Cassandra configuration file, cassandra.yaml:

client_encryption_options:
  enabled: true
  optional: false
  keystore: /path/to/server.keystore
  keystore_password: "password"
  require_client_auth: true
  truststore: /path/to/server.truststore
  truststore_password: "password"
  protocol: TLS
  algorithm: SunX509
  store_type: JKS
  cipher_suites: [TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA]

In the configuration above, replace "password" with the value generated in the previous step by the tctl auth sign command.

Step 5/5. Connect​

Once the Database Service has joined the cluster, log in to see the available databases:

$ tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=alice
$ tsh db ls
# Name      Description       Allowed Users Labels  Connect
# --------- ----------------- ------------- ------- -------
# cassandra Cassandra Example [*]           env=dev

To connect to a particular database instance :

$ tsh db connect --db-user=cassandra cassandra
# Password:
# Connected to Test Cluster at localhost:49594
# [cqlsh 6.0.0 | Cassandra 4.0.5 | CQL spec 3.4.5 | Native protocol v5]
# Use HELP for help.
# cassandra@cqlsh>

To log out of the database and remove credentials:

# Remove credentials for a particular database instance.
$ tsh db logout example
# Remove credentials for all database instances.
$ tsh db logout

Next steps​

  • See the YAML configuration reference for updating dynamic resource matchers or static database definitions.