Using cqlsh with SSL encryption

Using a cqlshrc file with SSL encryption.

Using a .cqlshrc file, or cqlshrc file means you don't have to override the SSL_CERTFILE environmental variables every time.

Note: You cannot use cqlsh when client certificate authentication is enabled (require_client_auth=true).

Procedure

To run cqlsh with SSL encryption, create a .cassandra/cqlshrc file in your home or client program directory.

Sample files are available in the following directories:

Cassandra package installations: /etc/cassandra
Cassandra tarball installations: install_location/conf

Example

[authentication]
username = fred
password = !!bang!!$

[connection]
hostname = 127.0.0.1
port = 9042

[ssl]
certfile = ~/keys/cassandra.cert
validate = true ## Optional, true by default

[certfiles]  ## Optional section, overrides the default certfile in the [ssl] section
192.168.1.3 = ~/keys/cassandra01.cert
192.168.1.4 = ~/keys/cassandra02.cert

Note:

When validate is enabled, the host in the certificate is compared to the host of the machine that it is connected to. The SSL certificate must be provided either in the configuration file or as an environment variable. The environment variables (SSL_CERTFILE and SSL_VALIDATE) override any options set in this file.