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DataStax Enterprise 6.8 Security Guide

    • About DSE Advanced Security
    • Security FAQs
    • Security checklists
    • Securing the environment
      • Securing ports
      • Securing the TMP directory
    • Authentication and authorization
      • Configuring authentication and authorization
        • About DSE Unified Authentication
          • Steps for new deployment
          • Steps for production environments
        • Configuring security keyspaces
        • Setting up Kerberos
          • Kerberos guidelines
          • Enabling JCE Unlimited
            • Removing AES-256
          • Preparing DSE nodes for Kerberos
            • DNS and NTP
            • krb5.conf
            • Principal
            • Keytab
        • Enabling authentication and authorization
          • Defining a Kerberos scheme
          • Defining an LDAP scheme
        • Configuring JMX authentication
        • Configuring cache settings
        • Securing schema information
      • Managing database access
        • About RBAC
        • Setting up logins and users
          • Adding a superuser login
          • Adding database users
          • LDAP users and groups
            • LDAP logins
            • LDAP groups
          • Kerberos principal logins
          • Setting up roles for applications
          • Binding a role to an authentication scheme
        • Assigning permissions
          • Database object permissions
            • Data resources
            • Functions and aggregate resources
            • Search indexes
            • Roles
            • Proxy login and execute
            • Authentication schemes
            • DSE Utilities (MBeans)
            • Analytic applications
            • Remote procedure calls
          • Separation of duties
          • Keyspaces and tables
          • Row Level Access Control (RLAC)
          • Search index permissions
          • DataStax Graph keyspace
          • Spark application permissions
          • DataStax Studio permissions
          • Remote procedure calls
          • DSE client-tool spark
          • JMX MBean permissions
          • Deny (denylist) db object permission
          • Restricting access to data
      • Providing credentials from DSE tools
        • About clients
        • Internal and LDAP authentication
          • Command line
          • File
          • Environment variables
          • Using CQLSH
        • Kerberos
          • JAAS configuration file location
          • Keytab
          • Ticket Cache
          • Spark jobs
          • SSTableLoader
          • Graph and gremlin-console
          • dsetool
          • CQLSH
        • Nodetool
        • JConsole
    • Auditing database activity
      • Enabling database auditing
      • Capturing DSE Search HTTP requests
      • Log formats
      • View events from DSE audit table
    • Transparent data encryption
      • About Transparent Data Encryption
      • Configuring local encryption
        • Setting up local encryption keys
        • Encrypting configuration file properties
        • Encrypting system resources
        • Encrypting tables
        • Rekeying existing data
        • Using tools with TDE-encrypted SSTables
        • Troubleshooting encryption key errors
      • Configuring KMIP encryption
      • Encrypting Search indexes
        • Encrypting new Search indexes
        • Encrypting existing Search indexes
        • Tuning encrypted Search indexes
      • Migrating encrypted tables from earlier versions
      • Bulk loading data between TDE-enabled clusters
    • Configuring SSL
      • Steps for configuring SSL
      • Creating SSL certificates, keystores, and truststores
        • Remote keystore provider
        • Local keystore files
      • Securing node-to-node connections
      • Securing client-to-node connections
        • Configuring JMX on the server side
        • nodetool, nodesync, dsetool, and Advanced Replication
        • JConsole (JMX)
        • SSTableloader
        • Connecting to SSL-enabled nodes using cqlsh
      • Enabling SSL encryption for DSEFS
      • Reference: SSL instruction variables
    • Securing Spark connections
  • DataStax Enterprise 6.8 Security Guide
  • Authentication and authorization
  • Configuring authentication and authorization
  • About DSE Unified Authentication
  • Steps for new deployment

Steps for New Deployment

Here are high-level steps for implementing DSE Unified Authentication in a new deployment.

To implement authentication and authorization in a pre-established DSE environment, additional precautions and steps are required. See Steps for production environments.

Procedure

To configure DSE Unified Authentication:

  1. Ensure that required data for logins and permission management are accessible and in all datacenters. See Configuring the security keyspaces replication factors.

  2. Configure the system settings. See Enabling DSE Unified Authentication.

  3. Configuring authentication and authorization methods (schemes):

    • Internally stored passwords. No additional configuration is required create roles with passwords as described in Setting up logins and users.

    • External LDAP. See Defining an LDAP scheme.

    • Kerberos. See Defining a Kerberos scheme.

  4. Configuring JMX authentication: Requires changes to the cassandra-env.sh for nodetool and dsetool to run against an authentication enabled cluster.

    The location of the cassandra-env.sh file depends on the type of installation:

    • Package installations: /etc/dse/cassandra/cassandra-env.sh

    • Tarball installations: <installation_location>/resources/cassandra/conf/cassandra-env.sh

  5. Restart DSE. See Starting and stopping DataStax Enterprise.

    Nodes are vulnerable to malicious activity following the restart. Anybody can access the system using the default cassandra account with password cassandra. DataStax recommends isolating the cluster until after disabling the cassandra account.

  6. Set up your own root account and disable or drop the default, cassandra account. See Adding a superuser login.

    Using the default cassandra account may impact performance, because all requests including login execute with consistency level QUORUM. DataStax recommends only using this account to create your root account.

  7. Create roles that map to users in the configured schemes and grant permission to allow users access to database resources, such as keyspaces and tables. See Setting up logins and users.

    • Use the latest DataStax certified drivers in all applications connecting to DSE Unified Authentication-enabled transactional nodes. DSE drivers support all the features of the Cassandra drivers and provide additional support for multiple authentication methods as well as externally managed roles assignment. See DataStax drivers.

    • Spark component limitations: DataStax Enterprise provides internal authentication support for connecting Spark to DSE transactional nodes, not for authenticating between Spark components.

What is Next

After enabling authentication and authorization, run tools by supplying credentials:

  • Providing credentials for CQLSH

  • Using DSE Graph and Gremlin console with Kerberos

  • Authenticating using DSE utilities

  • Providing credentials with nodetool

  • Authenticating using DSE utilities

About DSE Unified Authentication Steps for production environments

General Inquiries: +1 (650) 389-6000 info@datastax.com

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