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Kinetica comes equipped with several configuration options and some software to help secure and protect your data. Currently, there are several paths to securing the database in some fashion:
The sections below describe how to manually configure the database for a secure setup. To enable HTTPD, SSL, and/or External Authentication automatically, see KAgent.

Prerequisites

Before configuring your Kinetica cluster using the sections below, the following requirements should be met:
  1. If using an external authentication system, ensure it is running
  2. Ensure GAdmin has been initialized per the instructions found in Validate Kinetica and the default username and password have been updated
  3. Stop host manager using:
  4. Update your firewall settings to allow HTTPD passthrough (i.e. 8082, 8443, 8444, 8445) and to disable inbound connections to all other ports. See Adjusting the Firewall for more information
  5. Update the database configuration file (/opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf) for the following:
    1. Update the following settings, using the table below as a guide:
    2. Optionally, update the http_allow_origin setting. The default value for this setting (*) allows access from all domains. This setting controls which domains outside of your Kinetica cluster that can access the database, e.g., if you only wanted to allow access to the database from http://myapp.com, update the setting to http_allow_origin = http://myapp.com (comma-separated for multiple domains)

Authentication/Authorization Scenarios

HTTPD

This section outlines how to configure the database to use the packaged Apache HTTPD proxy solution.

Database Configuration

In /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf:
  1. Update the following setting to true to enable an HTTPD proxy:

Verification

  1. Restart host manager and the database using:
  2. Run a Host Manager status check:
  3. Verify the output shows HTTPD is running:
  4. Ensure HTTPD is working:
  5. Ensure Kinetica is running properly:

HTTPD + SSL

This section outlines how to configure the database to use the packaged Apache HTTPD proxy solution with SSL.

General Configuration

  1. Ensure a valid SSL key and certificate have been created. It is recommended you create them in /opt/gpudb/certs
  2. Ensure the SSL certificate has been added to OpenSSL’s trust store:
  3. Import an SSL certificate into a Java truststore using the following command:

Database Configuration

In /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf:
  1. Update the following setting to true to enable an HTTPD proxy:
  2. Update the following setting to true to force HTTPD to use HTTPS:

HTTPD “Data” Configuration

  1. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf and uncomment the following settings, ensuring you replace the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile setting values with the proper file paths. Read the Apache HTTPD SSL Docs for more information
The following settings are optional but provide greater security. Depending on what version of OpenSSL is installed on the system, the TLS version should be updated. Note that TLS version 1.1 is being retired after the first part of 2020. The SSLCipherSuite setting can also be upgraded, e.g., SSLCipherSuite HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5:

HTTPD “NoAuth” Configuration

  1. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/noauth.conf and uncomment the following settings, ensuring you replace the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile setting values with the proper file paths. Read the Apache HTTPD SSL Docs for more information
The following settings are optional but provide greater security. Depending on what version of OpenSSL is installed on the system, the TLS version should be updated. Note that TLS version 1.1 is being retired after the first part of 2020. The SSLCipherSuite setting can also be upgraded, e.g., SSLCipherSuite HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5:

Kinetica Components Configuration

Reveal

  1. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/connectors/reveal/etc/default.json and update the url setting:

GAdmin

  1. Navigate to the /opt/gpudb/tomcat/webapps/gadmin/js/settings.js file and update the REVEAL_PORT variable to the secured Reveal port (default 8444):
  2. Navigate to the /opt/gpudb/tomcat/webapps/gadmin/WEB-INF/classes/gaia.properties file and update the following settings to https, ensuring the host is correct for your setup
  3. In the /opt/gpudb/tomcat/conf/catalina.properties file at the bottom:
    1. Add the trustStore setting value with the proper file path to the keystore:
    2. Add the trust store password to the file using one of the following methods:
      • Add the following setting with the plain-text password for an unencrypted password:
      • Encrypt the password using the /opt/gpudb/core/bin/gpudb_encrypt.sh utility (see Obfuscating Plain-Text Passwords for details), then provide the following setting with the encrypted password value and the file path to the gpudb_decrypt.sh script (located in /opt/gpudb/core/bin/ by default):
A keystore being added to catalina.properties will prevent security settings from being overwritten during a Kinetica upgrade

Verification

  1. Restart host manager and the database using:
  2. Run a Host Manager status check:
  3. Verify the output shows HTTPD is running:
  4. Ensure Kinetica is running properly:
  5. Verify the output shows Kinetica is running:
  6. Login to GAdmin at https://<hostname>:8443
  7. Login to Reveal at https://<hostname>:8444
  8. Login to Workbench at https://<hostname>:8445

HTTPD + External Authentication

This section outlines how to configure the database to use an external authentication source with the packaged Apache HTTPD proxy solution.

Database Configuration

In /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf:
  1. Update the following setting to true to enable an HTTPD proxy:
  2. Update the following settings to true:

External Authentication Configuration

External authentication data store integration with Kinetica is accomplished through an Apache HTTPD proxy. This proxy comes packaged with Kinetica and can be found in /opt/gpudb/httpd. Since this portion is controlled by Apache HTTP not Kinetica, see the Apache documentation for further details. External authentication can be configured for Kinetica with or without SSL. Kinetica currently supports the following external authentication sources:
See Obfuscating Plain-Text Passwords for an example of obfuscating the plain-text LDAP/AD password in the HTTPD configuration file.
For testing purposes, Kinetica is packaged with an OpenLDAP server daemon (slapd) that already includes several sample users. It can be started & initialized manually, using the commands:
Only run /opt/gpudb/httpd/openldap/openldap-init.sh the first time the included OpenLDAP instance is started.

LDAP

  1. Before making configuration changes, ensure host manager is stopped:
  2. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf, uncomment the following settings, and update them as necessary. Read more about the HTTPD LDAP settings in the Apache HTTPD LDAP documentation:
    If you have groups you want to map to Kinetica roles, edit the LimitExcept tag, noted above.
  3. After making configuration changes, start the database:

Microsoft Active Directory

  1. Before making configuration changes, ensure host manager is stopped:
  2. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf, uncomment the following settings, and update them as necessary, ensuring you replace any instances of uid with samaccountname:
    If you have groups you want to map to Kinetica roles, edit the LimitExcept tag, noted above.
  3. After making configuration changes, start the database:

Kerberos

  1. Before making configuration changes, ensure host manager is stopped:
  2. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf, uncomment the following settings, and update them as necessary:
  3. Add the following settings below the settings you just uncommented, ensuring you replace the Kerberos realm and service name as well as the path to the keytab file with the appropriate values:
  4. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and add the following line to the end of the file:
  5. After making configuration changes, start the database:

User Management

Once Kinetica is connected to an external authentication source, the external users can be used for all Kinetica administration. First, a user with administrative permissions that can be tied to an external user will need to be created within Kinetica:
  • Log into Kinetica Administration Application (GAdmin) with an internal Kinetica administration account
  • From the Security menu, select Users
  • Click the New button
  • For Authentication, select External
  • Enter an external user’s username, preceded by @. This marks the user as an externally authenticated user
  • For System Level Permission, select System Admin
Although external users are created with the username @<username>, they will log in with their regular username, without the @.

Verification

  1. Restart host manager and the database using:
  2. Run a Host Manager status check:
  3. Verify the output shows HTTPD is running:
  4. Ensure HTTPD is working:
  5. Ensure Kinetica is running properly:
  6. Verify both internal and external users can login to GAdmin at http://<hostname>:8080
  7. Verify both internal and external users can login to Reveal at http://<hostname>:8088
  8. Verify both internal and external users can login to Workbench at http://<hostname>:8000

HTTPD + SSL + External Authentication

This section outlines how to configure the database to use an external authentication source with the packaged Apache HTTPD proxy solution and SSL.

Database Configuration

In /opt/gpudb/core/etc/gpudb.conf:
  1. Update the following setting to true to enable an HTTPD proxy:
  2. Update the following setting to true:
  3. Update the following settings to true:

HTTPD “Data” Configuration

  1. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf and uncomment the following settings, ensuring you replace the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile setting values with the proper file paths. Read the Apache HTTPD SSL Docs for more information
The following settings are optional but provide greater security. Depending on what version of OpenSSL is installed on the system, the TLS version should be updated. Note that TLS version 1.1 is being retired after the first part of 2020. The SSLCipherSuite setting can also be upgraded, e.g., SSLCipherSuite HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5:

HTTPD “NoAuth” Configuration

  1. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/noauth.conf and uncomment the following settings, ensuring you replace the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile setting values with the proper file paths. Read the Apache HTTPD SSL Docs for more information
The following settings are optional but provide greater security. Depending on what version of OpenSSL is installed on the system, the TLS version should be updated. Note that TLS version 1.1 is being retired after the first part of 2020. The SSLCipherSuite setting can also be upgraded, e.g., SSLCipherSuite HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5:

Kinetica Components Configuration

Reveal

  1. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/connectors/reveal/etc/default.json and update the url setting:

GAdmin

  1. Navigate to the /opt/gpudb/tomcat/webapps/gadmin/js/settings.js file and update the REVEAL_PORT variable to the secured Reveal port (default 8444):
  2. Navigate to the /opt/gpudb/tomcat/webapps/gadmin/WEB-INF/classes/gaia.properties file and update the following settings to https, ensuring the host is correct for your setup
  3. In the /opt/gpudb/tomcat/conf/catalina.properties file at the bottom:
    1. Add the trustStore setting value with the proper file path to the keystore:
    2. Add the trust store password to the file using one of the following methods:
      • Add the following setting with the plain-text password for an unencrypted password:
      • Encrypt the password using the /opt/gpudb/core/bin/gpudb_encrypt.sh utility (see Obfuscating Plain-Text Passwords for details), then provide the following setting with the encrypted password value and the file path to the gpudb_decrypt.sh script (located in /opt/gpudb/core/bin/ by default):
A keystore being added to catalina.properties will prevent security settings from being overwritten during a Kinetica upgrade

External Authentication Configuration

External authentication data store integration with Kinetica is accomplished through an Apache HTTPD proxy. This proxy comes packaged with Kinetica and can be found in /opt/gpudb/httpd. Since this portion is controlled by Apache HTTP not Kinetica, see the Apache documentation for further details. External authentication can be configured for Kinetica with or without SSL. Kinetica currently supports the following external authentication sources:
See Obfuscating Plain-Text Passwords for an example of obfuscating the plain-text LDAP/AD password in the HTTPD configuration file.
For testing purposes, Kinetica is packaged with an OpenLDAP server daemon (slapd) that already includes several sample users. It can be started & initialized manually, using the commands:
Only run /opt/gpudb/httpd/openldap/openldap-init.sh the first time the included OpenLDAP instance is started.

LDAP

  1. Before making configuration changes, ensure host manager is stopped:
  2. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf, uncomment the following settings, and update them as necessary. Read more about the HTTPD LDAP settings in the Apache HTTPD LDAP documentation:
    If you have groups you want to map to Kinetica roles, edit the LimitExcept tag, noted above.
  3. After making configuration changes, start the database:

Microsoft Active Directory

  1. Before making configuration changes, ensure host manager is stopped:
  2. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf, uncomment the following settings, and update them as necessary, ensuring you replace any instances of uid with samaccountname:
    If you have groups you want to map to Kinetica roles, edit the LimitExcept tag, noted above.
  3. After making configuration changes, start the database:

Kerberos

  1. Before making configuration changes, ensure host manager is stopped:
  2. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/data.conf, uncomment the following settings, and update them as necessary:
  3. Add the following settings below the settings you just uncommented, ensuring you replace the Kerberos realm and service name as well as the path to the keytab file with the appropriate values:
  4. Navigate to /opt/gpudb/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and add the following line to the end of the file:
  5. After making configuration changes, start the database:

User Management

Once Kinetica is connected to an external authentication source, the external users can be used for all Kinetica administration. First, a user with administrative permissions that can be tied to an external user will need to be created within Kinetica:
  • Log into Kinetica Administration Application (GAdmin) with an internal Kinetica administration account
  • From the Security menu, select Users
  • Click the New button
  • For Authentication, select External
  • Enter an external user’s username, preceded by @. This marks the user as an externally authenticated user
  • For System Level Permission, select System Admin
Although external users are created with the username @<username>, they will log in with their regular username, without the @.

Verification

  1. Restart host manager and the database using:
  2. Run a Host Manager status check:
  3. Verify the output shows HTTPD is running:
  4. Ensure Kinetica is running properly:
  5. Verify the output shows Kinetica is running:
  6. Verify both internal and external users can login to GAdmin at https://<hostname>:8443
  7. Verify both internal and external users can login to Reveal at https://<hostname>:8444
  8. Verify both internal and external users can login to Workbench at http://<hostname>:8445