TLS enablement for Redis, MongoDB , PostgreSQL and ActiveMQ

This document describes the procedure to enable TLS encryption for Expertflow CX stateful components mainly Redis, MongoDB, PostgreSQL and ActiveMQ.

WARNINIG

This procedures requires redeployment of existing solution to enable SSL/TLS support in mongodb, redis, postgresql and activeMQ. Please take backup before proceeding with the procedure below and then restore when completed. For further details please consult Mongo, PostgreSQL Backup/Restore Procedure for EF-CX on Kubernetes ( manual procedure )

Redis

Redis should be deployed with these values in the values.yaml file

YAML

tls:
  ## @param tls.enabled Enable TLS traffic
  ##
  enabled: true
  ## @param tls.authClients Require clients to authenticate
  ##
  authClients: true
  ## @param tls.autoGenerated Enable autogenerated certificates
  ##
  autoGenerated: true

Deploy the Redis using the helm command mentioned in the deployment guide. Once the Redis is deployed successfully, migrate the TLS certificate to Expertflow namespace by executing

CODE

kubectl get secret redis-crt -n ef-external  -o yaml | sed 's/namespace: ef-external/namespace: expertflow/' | kubectl create -f -

Manual Verification:-

export all cert files using the following commands:-

CODE

mkdir /tmp/redis_certs/
CERTFILES=($(kubectl get secret redis-crt -n ef-external -o go-template='{{range $k,$v := .data}}{{$k}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'))
for f in ${CERTFILES[*]}; do   kubectl get secret redis-crt  -n ef-external -o go-template='{{range $k,$v := .data}}{{ if eq $k "'$f'"}}{{$v  | base64decode}}{{end}}{{end}}' > /tmp/redis_certs/${f} 2>/dev/null; done

Export Redis Password:-

CODE

export REDIS_PASSWORD=$(kubectl get secret --namespace ef-external redis -o jsonpath="{.data.redis-password}" | base64 -d)

Start a Redis client pod:-

CODE

kubectl run --namespace ef-external redis-client   --env REDIS_PASSWORD=$REDIS_PASSWORD  --image gitimages.expertflow.com/general/redis:CIM-4292-6.2-debian-10-k8s --command -- sleep infinity

Now you can mount the secret redis-crt inside the client pods and use TLS certificates.

CODE

kubectl cp --namespace ef-external /tmp/redis_certs/tls.crt redis-client:/tmp/tls.crt
kubectl cp --namespace ef-external /tmp/redis_certs/tls.key redis-client:/tmp/tls.key
kubectl cp --namespace ef-external /tmp/redis_certs/ca.crt redis-client:/tmp/ca.crt

Exec into client pod:-

CODE

kubectl exec --tty -i redis-client \
   --namespace ef-external -- bash

verify the connection using the following command in client pod:-

CODE

I have no name!@redis-client:/$ REDISCLI_AUTH="$REDIS_PASSWORD" redis-cli -h redis-master --tls --cert /tmp/tls.crt --key /tmp/tls.key --cacert /tmp/ca.crt              redis-master:6379>
redis-master:6379>
redis-master:6379> CONFIG GET databases
1) "databases"
2) "16"

MongoDB

Deploy the mongoDB helm chart with these values changed

YAML

tls:
  ## @param tls.enabled Enable MongoDB(&reg;) TLS support between nodes in the cluster as well as between mongo clients and nodes
  ##
  enabled: true
  ## @param tls.autoGenerated Generate a custom CA and self-signed certificates
  ##
  autoGenerated: true

Then deploy the solution using standard helm command as mentioned in the CX deployment guide. Once the mongoDB chart is deployed successfully, copy the secret containing TLS certificates using

CODE

kubectl get secret mongo-mongodb-ca -n ef-external  -o yaml | sed 's/namespace: ef-external/namespace: expertflow/' | kubectl create -f -

For all CX related components, DEV can use this mongo-mongodb-ca by mounting it as a volume

Manual Verification

export all the cert files in ef-external namespace using

CODE

mkdir /tmp/mongodb_certs
CERTFILES=($(kubectl get secret mongo-mongodb-ca -n ef-external -o go-template='{{range $k,$v := .data}}{{$k}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'))
for f in ${CERTFILES[*]}; do   kubectl get secret mongo-mongodb-ca  -n ef-external -o go-template='{{range $k,$v := .data}}{{ if eq $k "'$f'"}}{{$v  | base64decode}}{{end}}{{end}}' > /tmp/mongodb_certs/${f} 2>/dev/null; done

The above script will export all the certs to local directory /tmp/mongodb_certs.

Run the following command to export MongoDB Password:-

CODE

kubectl get secret --namespace ef-external mongo-mongodb -o jsonpath="{.data.mongodb-root-password}" | base64 -d

Run the mongoDB client pod

CODE

kubectl run --namespace ef-external mongo-mongodb-client --env="MONGODB_ROOT_PASSWORD=$MONGODB_ROOT_PASSWORD" --image docker.io/bitnami/mongodb:6.0.2-debian-11-r1 --command -- sleep infinity

copy the certificate files inside the client pod

CODE

kubectl -n ef-external cp /tmp/mongodb_certs mongo-mongodb-client:/tmp/

Connect to the mongoDB pod using SSL/TLS certs

CODE

kubectl -n ef-external exec -it mongo-mongodb-client  -- bash

once inside the mongodb-client pod, combine both cert and key file using

CODE

cat /tmp/mongodb_certs/mongodb-ca-cert /tmp/mongodb_certs/mongodb-ca-key > /tmp/mongodb_certs/combined.pem

verify the connection using tls

CODE

mongosh admin --host "mongo-mongodb" \
--authenticationDatabase admin \
-u root \
-p $MONGODB_ROOT_PASSWORD \
--tls  \
--tlsAllowInvalidHostnames  \
--tlsAllowInvalidCertificates \
--tlsCertificateKeyFile /tmp/mongodb_certs/client-pem  \
--tlsCAFile /tmp/mongodb_certs/client-pem

Sample Run

CODE

I have no name!@mongo-mongodb-client:/$ mongosh admin --host "mongo-mongodb" --authenticationDatabase admin -u root -p $MONGODB_ROOT_PASSWORD --tls  --tlsAllowInvalidHostnames  --tlsAllowInvalidCertificates --tlsCertificateKeyFile /tmp/client-pem  --tlsCAFile /tmp/mongo/client-pem
Current Mongosh Log ID: 663b303a12c4a32b93ff8546
Connecting to:          mongodb://<credentials>@mongo-mongodb:27017/admin?directConnection=true&authSource=admin&tls=true&tlsAllowInvalidHostnames=true&tlsAllowInvalidCertificates=true&tlsCertificateKeyFile=%2Ftmp%2Fmongo%2Fcombined.pem&tlsCAFile=%2Ftmp%2Fmongo%2Fclient-pem&appName=mongosh+1.6.0
Using MongoDB:          6.0.2
Using Mongosh:          1.6.0

For mongosh info see: https://docs.mongodb.com/mongodb-shell/

------
   The server generated these startup warnings when booting
   2024-05-08T07:42:12.444+00:00: /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled is 'always'. We suggest setting it to 'never'
   2024-05-08T07:42:12.445+00:00: /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag is 'always'. We suggest setting it to 'never'
   2024-05-08T07:42:12.445+00:00: vm.max_map_count is too low
------

admin> show dbs;
admin   100.00 KiB
config   12.00 KiB
local    72.00 KiB
admin>

Sometimes, the mongodb client pod doesn’t inherit the MONGODB_ROOT_PASSWORD environment variable, and user will have to enter the password manually.

PostgreSQL

There are no special instructions required for the Postgresql database to enable TLS on the client side. A standard connection string should be used to connect to the PostgreSQL server.

ActiveMQ

ActiveMQ uses full duplex certificates as shown in this diagram:

ActiveMQ TLS enablement is not fully functional yet.

The client trust store contains a broker certificate to trust the broker, while the broker trust store stores the client certificate to trust the client. So it is a mutual trust when it comes to ActiveMQ TLS connection.

Client	Port	TLS Port
Java (JMS)	61616	61617
Node.js (STOMP)	61613	61615

Java Client:

Use the following keystore and trust store in your ActiveMQ client, the relevant certificates are already added in the ActiveMQ Server.

Trust Store: client.ts
Key Store: client.ks

Use port 61617 in this case. The example of URI is ssl://127.0.0.1:61617...

Stomp Client:

Use the following broker certificate to add to the client CA.

Broker Certificate: broker_cert

Use port 61615 in this case. The example of URI is stomp+nio+ssl://0.0.0.0:61615...