About Transparent Data Encryption
Protects sensitive at-rest data stored in configuration files and in database tables.
- Configuration file properties: Protects LDAP search password, LDAP truststore password, SSL truststore passwords.
- System resources: Protected properties using the same key for the system.batchlog and system.paxos tables, hint files and commit logs.
- Database tables: Protects all data in the table except for the primary
key columns. Different tables can use different keys.
SSTable data files are immutable once they have been flushed to disk and are only encrypted during the write to disk. To encrypt existing data, use the with the
-a
option to rewrite the tables to disk with encryption.Warning: Do NOT store sensitive data in Primary Key columns. Transparent data encryption does not encrypt partition keys and clustering columns.
Data that is not encrypted
- Table partition key and clustering columns
- Database files other than the commit log and SSTable data files
- DSEFS data files
Requirements
When using TDE secure local file system. Encryption keys are stored remotely with KMIP encryption or locally with on-server encryption.
TDE limitations and recommendations
The following utilities cannot access encrypted data, but will operate on all unencrypted data.
Compression and encryption introduce performance overhead.
Utility | Reason utility is not encrypted |
---|---|
nodetool | Uses only JMX, so data is not accessed. |
sstableloader | Operates directly on the SSTables. |
sstablescrub | Operates directly on the SSTables. |
sstableutil | Operates directly on the SSTables. |
sstableverify | Operates directly on the SSTables. |
config_encryption_active
is true
in DSE and
OpsCenter. For LCM limitations, see .