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Secure Client Authentication with X.509

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The MongoDB Enterprise Kubernetes Operator can use X.509 certificates to authenticate your client applications to your MongoDB deployments.

This guide instructs you on how to configure X.509 authentication from clients to your MongoDB instances.

Note

You can’t secure a Standalone Instance of MongoDB in a Kubernetes cluster.

General Prerequisites

Before you secure your MongoDB deployment using TLS encryption, complete the following:

Enabling X.509 authentication at the project level configures all agents to use X.509 client authentication when communicating with MongoDB deployments.

X.509 client authentication requires one of the following:

  • Cloud Manager
  • Ops Manager 4.1.7 or later
  • Ops Manager 4.0.11 or later

Configure X.509 Client Authentication for a Replica Set

Prerequisites

Before you secure your replica set using X.509, deploy a TLS-encrypted replica set.

Enable X.509 Client Authentication

5

Copy the sample replica set resource.

Change the settings of this YAML file to match your desired replica set configuration.

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---
apiVersion: mongodb.com/v1
kind: MongoDB
metadata:
  name: <my-replica-set>
spec:
  members: 3
  version: "4.2.2-ent"
  opsManager:
    configMapRef:
            # Must match metadata.name in ConfigMap file
      name: <configMap.metadata.name>
  credentials: <mycredentials>
  type: ReplicaSet
  persistent: true
copy 
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  security:
    tls:
      ca: <custom-ca>
    certsSecretPrefix: <prefix>
    authentication:
      enabled: true
      modes: ["X509"]
...
6

Paste the copied example section into your existing replica set resource.

Open your preferred text editor and paste the object specification at the end of your resource file in the spec section.

7

Configure the general X.509 settings for your replica set resource.

To enable TLS and X.509 in your deployment, configure the following settings in your Kubernetes object:

Key Type Necessity Description Example
spec.security
.authentication
.enabled
 boolean Required Set this value to true to enable authentication on the MongoDB deployment. true
spec.security
.authentication
.modes
 array Conditional Set this value to ["X509"]. ["X509"]
8

Save your replica set config file.

9

Apply your changes to your replica set deployment.

Invoke the following Kubernetes command to update your replica set:

copy 
kubectl apply -f <replica-set-conf>.yaml
10

Track the status of your deployment.

To check the status of your MongoDB Kubernetes resource, use the following command:

copy 
kubectl get mdb <resource-name> -o yaml -w

With the -w (watch) flag set, when the configuration changes, the output refreshes immediately until the status phase achieves the Running state. To learn more about resource deployment statuses, see Troubleshoot the Kubernetes Operator.

Renew X.509 Certificates for a Replica Set

If you have already created certificates, we recommend that you renew them periodically using the following procedure.

1

Configure kubectl to default to your namespace.

If you have not already, run the following command to execute all kubectl commands in the namespace you created.

Note

If you are deploying an Ops Manager resource on a multi-Kubernetes-cluster deployment:

  • Set the context to the name of the central cluster, such as: kubectl config set context "$MDB_CENTRAL_CLUSTER_FULL_NAME".
  • Set the --namespace to the same scope that you used for your multi-Kubernetes-cluster deployment, such as: kubectl config --namespace "mongodb".
copy 
kubectl config set-context $(kubectl config current-context) --namespace=<metadata.namespace>
2

Renew the secret for your TLS certificates.

Run this kubectl command to renew an existing secret that stores the replica set’s certificates:

copy 
kubectl create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-cert \
  --cert=<replica-set-tls-cert> \
  --key=<replica-set-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
   -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -
3

Renew the secret for your agents’ X.509 certificates.

Run this kubectl command to renew an existing secret that stores the agents’ X.509 certificates:

copy 
kubectl create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-agent-certs \
  --cert=<agent-tls-cert> \
  --key=<agent-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
   -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -

Configure X.509 Client Authentication for a Sharded Cluster

Prerequisites

Before you secure your sharded cluster using X.509, deploy a TLS-encrypted sharded cluster.

Enable X.509 Client Authentication

1

Copy the sample sharded cluster resource.

Change the settings of this YAML file to match your desired sharded cluster configuration.

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---
apiVersion: mongodb.com/v1
kind: MongoDB
metadata:
  name: <my-sharded-cluster>
spec:
  shardCount: 2
  mongodsPerShardCount: 3
  mongosCount: 2
  configServerCount: 3
  version: "4.2.2-ent"
  opsManager:
    configMapRef:
      name: <configMap.metadata.name>
            # Must match metadata.name in ConfigMap file
  credentials: <mycredentials>
  type: ShardedCluster
  persistent: true
copy 
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  security:
    tls:
      ca: <custom-ca>
    certsSecretPrefix: <prefix>
    authentication:
      enabled: true
      modes: ["X509"]
...
2

Paste the copied example section into your existing sharded cluster resource.

Open your preferred text editor and paste the object specification at the end of your resource file in the spec section.

3

Configure the general X.509 settings for your sharded cluster resource.

To enable TLS and X.509 in your deployment, configure the following settings in your Kubernetes object:

Key Type Necessity Description Example
spec.security
.authentication
.enabled
 boolean Required Set this value to true to enable authentication on the MongoDB deployment. true
spec.security
.authentication
.modes
 array Conditional Set this value to ["X509"]. ["X509"]
4

Save your sharded cluster config file.

5

Update and restart your sharded cluster deployment.

In any directory, invoke the following Kubernetes command to update and restart your sharded cluster:

copy 
kubectl apply -f <sharded-cluster-conf>.yaml
6

Track the status of your deployment.

To check the status of your MongoDB Kubernetes resource, use the following command:

copy 
kubectl get mdb <resource-name> -o yaml -w

With the -w (watch) flag set, when the configuration changes, the output refreshes immediately until the status phase achieves the Running state. To learn more about resource deployment statuses, see Troubleshoot the Kubernetes Operator.

Renew X.509 Certificates for a Sharded Cluster

If you have already created certificates, we recommend that you renew them periodically using the following procedure.

1

Configure kubectl to default to your namespace.

If you have not already, run the following command to execute all kubectl commands in the namespace you created.

Note

If you are deploying an Ops Manager resource on a multi-Kubernetes-cluster deployment:

  • Set the context to the name of the central cluster, such as: kubectl config set context "$MDB_CENTRAL_CLUSTER_FULL_NAME".
  • Set the --namespace to the same scope that you used for your multi-Kubernetes-cluster deployment, such as: kubectl config --namespace "mongodb".
copy 
kubectl config set-context $(kubectl config current-context) --namespace=<metadata.namespace>
2

Renew the secret for your Shards’ TLS certificates.

Run this kubectl command to renew an existing secret that stores the sharded cluster shards’ certificates:

copy 
kubectl -n mongodb create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-0-cert \
  --cert=<shard-0-tls-cert> \
  --key=<shard-0-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
  -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -

kubectl -n mongodb create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-1-cert \
  --cert=<shard-1-tls-cert> \
  --key=<shard-1-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
  -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -
3

Renew the secret for your config server’s TLS certificates.

Run this kubectl command to renew an existing secret that stores the sharded cluster config server’s certificates:

copy 
kubectl -n mongodb create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-config-cert \
  --cert=<config-tls-cert> \
  --key=<config-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
  -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -
4

Renew the secret for your mongos server’s TLS certificates.

Run this kubectl command to renew an existing secret that stores the sharded cluster mongos certificates:

copy 
kubectl -n mongodb create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-mongos-cert \
  --cert=<mongos-tls-cert> \
  --key=<mongos-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
  -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -
5

Renew the secret for your agents’ X.509 certificates.

Run this kubectl command to renew an existing secret that stores the agents’ X.509 certificates:

copy 
kubectl create secret tls <prefix>-<metadata.name>-agent-certs \
  --cert=<agent-tls-cert> \
  --key=<agent-tls-key> \
  --dry-run=client \
   -o yaml |
kubectl apply -f -

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