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Version: 14.x

Database Access with ClickHouse

The Teleport Clickhouse integration allows you to enroll ClickHouse databases with Teleport.

The Teleport Database Service authenticates to ClickHouse using x509 certificates, which are available for the ClickHouse HTTP and Native (TCP) interfaces. The Teleport Database Service can communicate in both the ClickHouse Native (TCP) and HTTP protocols, and you can select which protocol to use when configuring the Teleport Database Service.

Teleport audit logs for query activity are only supported for the ClickHouse HTTP interface. Teleport support for ClickHouse's native interfaces does not include audit logs for database query activity.

This guide will help you to:

  • Install and configure a Teleport database agent.
  • Set up Teleport to access your self-hosted ClickHouse database.
  • Connect to your database through Teleport.

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.

  • Either a Linux host or Kubernetes cluster where you will run the Teleport Database Service.

You will also need the following, depending on the ClickHouse protocol you choose:

  • A self-hosted deployment of ClickHouse Server v22.3 or later.

Step 1/5. Create a Teleport token and user​

The Database Service requires a valid join token to join your Teleport cluster. Run the following tctl command and save the token output in /tmp/token on the server that will run the Database Service:

$ tctl tokens add --type=db --format=text
abcd123-insecure-do-not-use-this
tip

To modify an existing user to provide access to the Database Service, see Database Access Access Controls

Create a local Teleport user with the built-in access role:

$ tctl users add \
  --roles=access \
  --db-users="*" \
  --db-names="*" \
  alice
FlagDescription
--rolesList of roles to assign to the user. The builtin access role allows them to connect to any database server registered with Teleport.
--db-usersList of database usernames the user will be allowed to use when connecting to the databases. A wildcard allows any user.
--db-namesList of logical databases (aka schemas) the user will be allowed to connect to within a database server. A wildcard allows any database.
warning

Database names are only enforced for PostgreSQL and MongoDB databases.

For more detailed information about database access controls and how to restrict access see RBAC documentation.

Step 2/5. Create a certificate/key pair​

Teleport uses mutual TLS authentication with self-hosted databases. These databases must be configured with Teleport's certificate authority to be able to verify client certificates. They also need a certificate/key pair that Teleport can verify.

If you are using Teleport Cloud, your Teleport user must be allowed to impersonate the system role Db in order to be able to generate the database certificate.

Include the following allow rule in in your Teleport Cloud user's role:

allow:
  impersonate:
    users: ["Db"]
    roles: ["Db"]

Export Teleport's certificate authority and a generated certificate/key pair for host db.example.com with a 1-year validity period:

$ tctl auth sign --format=db --host=clickhouse.example.com --out=server --ttl=8766h
TTL

We recommend using a shorter TTL, but keep mind that you'll need to update the database server certificate before it expires to not lose the ability to connect. Pick the TTL value that best fits your use-case.

This command will create three files:

  • server.cas: Teleport's certificate authority
  • server.key: a generated private key
  • server.crt: a generated host certificate

Step 3/5. Configure ClickHouse​

Use the generated secrets to enable mutual TLS in your clickhouse-server/config.xml configuration file:

<openSSL>
    <server>
       <privateKeyFile>/path/to/server.key</privateKeyFile>
       <caConfig>/path/to/server.cas</caConfig>
       <certificateFile>/path/to/server.crt</certificateFile>
       <verificationMode>strict</verificationMode>
    </server>
</openSSL>

Additionally, your ClickHouse database user accounts must be configured to require a valid client certificate:

CREATE USER alice IDENTIFIED WITH ssl_certificate CN 'alice';

By default, the created user may not have access to anything and won't be able to connect, so let's grant it some permissions:

GRANT ALL ON *.* TO alice;

Step 4/5. Configure and start the Database Service​

Install and configure Teleport on the host or Kubernetes cluster where you will run the Teleport Database Service:

Select an edition, then follow the instructions for that edition to install Teleport.

The following command updates the repository for the package manager on the local operating system and installs the provided Teleport version:

$ curl https://cdn.teleport.dev/install-v14.3.33.sh | bash -s 14.3.33
note

The step below will overwrite an existing configuration file, so if you're running multiple services add --output=stdout to print the config in your terminal, and manually adjust /etc/teleport.yaml.

On the host where you will run the Teleport Database Service, start Teleport with the appropriate configuration.

Generate a configuration file at /etc/teleport.yaml for the Database Service:

$ teleport db configure create \
   -o file \
   --token=/tmp/token \
   --proxy=teleport.example.com:443 \
   --name=example-clickhouse \
   --protocol=clickhouse-http \
   --uri=clickhouse.example.com:8443 \
   --labels=env=dev

Configure the Teleport Database Service to start automatically when the host boots up by creating a systemd service for it. The instructions depend on how you installed the Teleport Database Service.

On the host where you will run the Teleport Database Service, enable and start Teleport:

$ sudo systemctl enable teleport
$ sudo systemctl start teleport

You can check the status of the Teleport Database Service with systemctl status teleport and view its logs with journalctl -fu teleport.

Tip

A single Teleport process can run multiple services, for example multiple Database Service instances as well as other services such the SSH Service or Application Service.

Step 5/5. Connect​

Once the Database Service has joined the cluster, log in to see the available databases:

Log in to Teleport and list the databases you can connect to. You should see the ClickHouse database you enrolled earlier:

$ tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=alice
$ tsh db ls
# Name                      Description Allowed Users Labels  Connect
# ------------------------- ----------- ------------- ------- -------
# example-clickhouse-http               [*]           env=dev

Create an authenticated proxy tunnel so you can connect to ClickHouse via a GUI database client, or send a request via curl:

$ tsh proxy db --db-user=alice --tunnel example-clickhouse-http
# Started authenticated tunnel for the Clickhouse (HTTP) database "clickhouse-http" in cluster "teleport.example.com" on 127.0.0.1:59215.
# To avoid port randomization, you can choose the listening port using the --port flag.
#
# Use the following command to connect to the database or to the address above using other database GUI/CLI clients:
#   $ curl http://localhost:59215/

To test the connection you can run the following command:

$ echo 'select currentUser();' | curl http://localhost:59215/  --data-binary @-
# alice

To log out of the database and remove credentials:

# Remove credentials for a particular database instance.
$ tsh db logout example-clickhouse-http
# Remove credentials for all database instances.
$ tsh db logout

Next steps​

  • See the YAML configuration reference for updating dynamic resource matchers or static database definitions.