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Database Access GUI Clients

This guide describes how to configure popular graphical database clients to work with Teleport.

Setting up your Teleport environment

Prerequisites

  • A running Teleport cluster version 14.3.33 or above. If you want to get started with Teleport, sign up for a free trial or set up a demo environment.

  • The tctl admin tool and tsh client tool.

    Visit Installation for instructions on downloading tctl and tsh.

  • To check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster, sign in with tsh login, then verify that you can run tctl commands using your current credentials. tctl is supported on macOS and Linux machines. For example:
    $ tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=email@example.com
    $ tctl status
    # Cluster teleport.example.com
    # Version 14.3.33
    # CA pin sha256:abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678
    If you can connect to the cluster and run the tctl status command, you can use your current credentials to run subsequent tctl commands from your workstation. If you host your own Teleport cluster, you can also run tctl commands on the computer that hosts the Teleport Auth Service for full permissions.
  • The Teleport Database Service configured to access a database. See one of our guides for how to set up the Teleport Database Service for your database.

Get connection information

Starting the local database proxy with the --tunnel flag will create an authenticated tunnel that you can use to connect to your database instances. You won't need to configure any credentials when connecting to this tunnel.

Here is an example on how to start the proxy:

# Start the local proxy.
$ tsh proxy db --tunnel <database-name>
Started authenticated tunnel for the <engine> database "<database-name>" in cluster "<cluster-name>" on 127.0.0.1:62652.

You can optionally specify the database name and the user to use by default when connecting to the database:

$ tsh proxy db --db-user=my-database-user --db-name=my-schema --tunnel <database-name>

Now, you can connect to the address the proxy command returns. In our example it is 127.0.0.1:62652.

MongoDB Compass

Compass is the official MongoDB graphical client.

On the "New Connection" panel, click on "Fill in connection fields individually".

On the "Hostname" tab, enter the hostname and port of the proxy you will use to access the database (see Get connection information). Leave "Authentication" as None.

On the "More Options" tab, set SSL to "Client and Server Validation" and set the CA as well as the client key and certificate. Note that a CA path must be provided and be able to validate the certificate presented by your Teleport Proxy Service's web endpoint.

The following fields in the More Options tab must correspond to paths printed by the tsh proxy db command you ran earlier:

FieldPath
Certificate Authorityca_file
Client Certificatecert_file
Client Private Keykey_file

Click on the "Connect" button.

MySQL DBeaver

Right-click in the "Database Navigator" menu in the main view and select Create > Connection:

DBeaver Add Server

In the search bar of the "Connect to a database" window that opens up, type "mysql", select the MySQL driver, and click "Next":

DBeaver Select Driver

In the newly-opened "Connection Settings" tab, use the Host as localhost and Port as the one returned by the proxy command (62652 in the example above):

In that same tab, set the username to match the one that you are connecting to using Teleport and uncheck the "Save password locally" box:

DBeaver Select Configure User

Click the "Edit Driver Settings" button on the "Main" tab, check the "No Authentication" box, and click "Ok" to save:

DBeaver Driver Settings

Once you are back in the "Connection Settings" window, click "Ok" to finish and DBeaver should connect to the remote MySQL server automatically.

MySQL Workbench

MySQL Workbench is a GUI application that provides comprehensive MySQL administration and SQL development tools.

In the MySQL Workbench "Setup New Connection" dialog, fill out "Connection Name", "Hostname", "Port", and "Username":

In the "SSL" tab, set "Use SSL" to Require and Verify Identity and enter the paths to your CA, certificate, and private key files (see Get connection information):

The following fields in the SSL tab must correspond to paths printed by the tsh proxy db command you ran earlier:

FieldPath
SSL Key Filekey_file
SSL CERT Filecert_file
SSL CA Fileca_file

Optionally, click "Test Connection" to verify connectivity:

MySQL Workbench Test

Save the connection and connect to the database.

NoSQL Workbench

From the NoSQL Workbench launch screen, click Launch next to Amazon DynamoDB. From the left-side menu select Operation builder, then + Add connection. Choose the DynamoDB local tab, and point to your proxy's endpoint. This is localhost:62652 in the example above. (See Get connection information for more information.)

SQL Server with Azure Data Studio

In Azure Data Studio create a connection using your proxy's endpoint. This is localhost,62652 in the example above. On a Windows machine, using an address in the format 127.0.0.1,62652 could be required instead of localhost. (See Get connection information for more information.)

Create a connection with Microsoft SQL Server with these settings:

Connection DetailValue
Serverhost,port of proxy endpoint
Authentication TypeSQL Login
Passwordempty
EncryptFalse

Example: Azure Data Studio connection options

Click Connect to connect.

PostgreSQL DBeaver

To connect to your PostgreSQL instance, use the authenticated proxy address. This is 127.0.0.1:62652 in the example above (see the “Authenticated Proxy” section on Get connection information for more information).

Use the "Database native" authentication with an empty password:

Clicking on "Test connection" should return a connection success message. Then, click on "Finish" to save the configuration.

PostgreSQL pgAdmin 4

pgAdmin 4 is a popular graphical client for PostgreSQL servers.

To configure a new connection, right-click on "Servers" in the main browser view and create a new server:

pgAdmin Add Server

In the "General" tab of the new server dialog, enter the server connection name:

In the "Connection" tab, fill in the hostname, port, user and database name from the configuration above:

In the "SSL" tab, set "SSL Mode" to Verify-Full and fill in paths for client certificate, key and root certificate from the configuration above:

The following fields in the SSL tab must correspond to paths printed by the tsh proxy db command you ran earlier:

FieldPath
Client certificatecert_file
Client certificate keykey_file
Root certificateca_file

Click "Save", and pgAdmin should immediately connect. If pgAdmin prompts you for password, leave the password field empty and click OK.

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

In Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio connect to a database engine using your proxy's endpoint. This is localhost,62652 in the example above. Using the IP 127.0.0.1,62652 connection could be required on a Windows machine instead of localhost. (See Get connection information for more information.)

Create a connection with Microsoft SQL Server with these settings:

Connection DetailValue
Server typeDatabase Engine
Server namehost,port of proxy endpoint
AuthenticationSQL Server Authentication
Passwordempty
Encryptiondo not enable

Example: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio connection options

Click Connect to connect.

Redis Insight

note

Teleport's Redis Insight integration only supports Redis standalone instances.

After opening Redis Insight click ADD REDIS DATABASE.

Now start a local proxy to your Redis instance:

tsh proxy db --db-user=alice redis-db-name.

Click Add Database Manually. Use 127.0.0.1 as the Host. Use the port printed by the tsh command you ran in Get connection information.

Provide your Redis username as Username and password as Password.

Next, check the Use TLS and Verify TLS Certificates boxes. Copy the contents of the files at the paths returned by the tsh proxy db command you ran earlier and paste them into their corresponding fields. See the table below for the Redis Insight fields that correspond to each path:

FieldPath
CA Certificateca_file
Client Certificatecert_file
Private Keykey_file

Click Add Redis Database.

Congratulations! You have just connected to your Redis instance.

Snowflake: DBeaver

The Snowflake integration works only in the authenticated proxy mode. Start a local proxy for connections to your Snowflake database by using the command below:

tsh proxy db --tunnel --port 2000 snowflake

Add a new database by clicking the "add" icon in the top-left corner:

In the search bar of the "Connect to a database" window that opens up, type "snowflake", select the Snowflake driver, and click "Next":

Set "Host" to localhost and "Port" to the port returned by the tsh proxy db command you ran earlier (2000 in the example above). In the "Authentication" section set the "Username" to match the database username passed to Teleport with --db-user and enter any value (e.g., "teleport") in the "Password" field (the value of "Password" will be ignored when establishing a connection but is required by DBeaver to register your database):

Next, click the "Driver properties" tab and set "account" to any value (e.g., "teleport"; as with "Password", the value of "account" will be ignored when establishing a connection but is required by DBeaver to register your database). In "User properties", set "ssl" to off:

Teleport ignores the provided password and the account name as internally it uses values from the Database Agent configuration. SSL set to off disables only encryption on local machine. Connection to Snowflake is encrypted by Teleport.

Now you can click on "Test Connection..." in the bottom-left corner:

Congratulations! You have just connected to your Snowflake instance.

Snowflake: JetBrains (IntelliJ, Goland, DataGrip, PyCharm, etc.)

The Snowflake integration works only in the authenticated proxy mode. Start a local proxy for connections to your Snowflake database by using the command below:

tsh proxy db --tunnel --port 2000 snowflake

In "Database Explorer" click the "add" button, pick "Data Source", and then pick "Snowflake":

Next, set "Host" to localhost and "Port" to the port returned by the tsh proxy db command you ran earlier (2000 in the example above). Set the "Username" to match the one that you are assuming when you connect to Snowflake via Teleport and enter any value (e.g., "teleport") in the "Password" field (the value of "Password" will be ignored but is required to create a data source in your IDE):

Switch to the "Advanced" tab, set any value (e.g., "teleport") for "account", and add a new record named ssl with value off (as with "Password", "account" is ignored while establishing the connection but required by your IDE):

Teleport ignores the provided password and the account name as internally it uses values from the Database Agent configuration. Setting "SSL" to off only disables encryption on your local machine. The connection to Snowflake is encrypted by Teleport.

Now you can click "Test Connection" to check your configuration.

Congratulations! You have just connected to your Snowflake instance.

SQL Server DataGrip

In the DataGrip connection configuration menu, use your proxy's endpoint. This is localhost:4242 in the example below. (See Get connection information for more information.)

Select the "User & Password" authentication option and keep the "Password" field empty:

Click "OK" to connect.

SQL Server DBeaver

In the DBeaver connection configuration menu, use your proxy's endpoint. This is localhost:62652 in the example above. (See Get connection information for more information.)

Use the SQL Server Authentication option and keep the Password field empty:

Click OK to connect.