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Page Revision: Fri, Jul 15, 2016, 9:25 AM

Overview¶

This article provides the steps to take to configure encryption in transit for Mongo DB.

Assumptions¶

• The client machines are assumed to be web servers.
• The Mongo DB instances are assumed to be running on Linux server(s).
• All servers are running as EC2 server instances under Amazon Web Services.
  

Procedure¶

Prep Work¶

1. Set HOSTNAME and ROOTCA environment variables.

Windows

SET HOSTNAME=PublicDnsOfServer
SET ROOTCA=MyRootCA

Linux

HOSTNAME='PublicDnsOfServer'
ROOTCA='MyRootCA'
export HOSTNAME
export ROOTCA

Create the Root Certificate Authority Certificate¶

This part of the procedure should be done on a PROTECTED machine — i.e., NOT the Mongo DB or web server.

1. Create a folder to hold the Root CA Files

Windows

mkdir %ROOTCA%
cd %ROOTCA%

Linux

mkdir $ROOTCA
cd $ROOTCA

2. Generate an RSA key pair

Windows

openssl genrsa -out %ROOTCA%.key 2048
openssl rsa -in %ROOTCA%.key -out %ROOTCA%.key

Linux

openssl genrsa -out $ROOTCA.key 2048
openssl rsa -in $ROOTCA.key -out $ROOTCA.key

3. Generate the Root CA Certificate

Windows

openssl req -x509 -new -key %ROOTCA%.key -days 365 -out %ROOTCA%.crt

Linux

openssl req -x509 -new -key $ROOTCA.key -days 365 -out $ROOTCA.crt

4. Concatenate the CRT and KEY files into a PEM file

Windows

type %ROOTCA%.crt %ROOTCA%.key > %ROOTCA%.pem

Linux

cat $ROOTCA.crt $ROOTCA.key > $ROOTCA.pem

Generate SSL Certificate for Each Server¶

This part of the procedure should be done on a PROTECTED machine on behalf of each Mongo DB server, as well as each web server.

1. Create a folder for each server's files as a sibling to the MyRootCA folder created above.

Windows

mkdir %HOSTNAME%
CD %HOSTNAME%

Linux

mkdir $HOSTNAME
cd $HOSTNAME

2. Generate Key Pair for the Server

Windows

openssl genrsa -out %HOSTNAME%.key 2048
openssl rsa -in %HOSTNAME%.key -out %HOSTNAME%.key

Linux

openssl genrsa -out $HOSTNAME.key 2048
openssl rsa -in $HOSTNAME.key -out $HOSTNAME.key

3. Create CSR (Certificate Signing Request)

Windows

openssl req -new -key %HOSTNAME%.key -out %HOSTNAME%.csr

Linux

openssl req -new -key $HOSTNAME.key -out $HOSTNAME.csr

• Fill in fields manually
• When prompted for the Common Name for the CSR, specify the Public DNS Name of the server. Do NOT use %HOSTNAME%/$HOSTNAME.
  

4. Fulfill the CSR

Windows

openssl x509 -req -in %HOSTNAME%.csr -CA ..\%ROOTCA%\%ROOTCA%.crt -CAkey ..\%ROOTCA%\%ROOTCA%.key -CAcreateserial -out %HOSTNAME%.crt -days 365

Linux

openssl x509 -req -in $HOSTNAME.csr -CA ../$ROOTCA/$ROOTCA.crt -CAkey ../$ROOTCA/$ROOTCA.key -CAcreateserial -out $HOSTNAME.crt -days 365

5. Validate the certificate against the CA file

Windows

openssl verify -CAfile ..\%ROOTCA%\%ROOTCA%.crt %HOSTNAME%.crt

Linux

openssl verify -CAfile ../$ROOTCA/$ROOTCA.crt $HOSTNAME.crt

Should get the following.

HOSTNAME.crt: OK

6. Concatenate CRT and KEY files into PEM file

Windows

type %HOSTNAME%.crt %HOSTNAME%.key > %HOSTNAME%.pem

Linux

cat $HOSTNAM.crt $HOSTNAM.key > $HOSTNAM.pem

Install Certificate Files on Mongo DB Servers¶

1. Set environment variables

HOSTNAME='PublicDnsOfServer'
ROOTCA='MyRootCA'
export HOSTNAME
export ROOTCA

2. Upload files to each Mongo DB server to the /home/ec2-user folder

• MyRootCA.crt
• MyMongoServer.com.pem
  

3. Move the files to the proper folder

cd /etc/ssl
mv /home/ec2-user/$ROOTCA.crt .
mv /home/ec2-user/$HOSTNAME.pem .

4. Adjust security on uploaded files

chown root:root $ROOTCA.crt
chown root:root $HOSTNAME.pem

5. Adjust Mongo DB configuration: Edit the /etc/mongod.conf, adding the following lines to the net: section

   ssl:
      mode: requireSSL
      PEMKeyFile: /etc/ssl/MyMongoServer.com.pem
      CAFile: /etc/ssl/MyMongoServer.com.crt

5. Validate the above change

cat /etc/mongod.conf | grep ssl

6. Restart the Mongo DB service

service mongod status
service mongod stop
service mongod status
service mongod start
service mongod status

7. Verify you can log into Mongo locally

mongo --ssl --sslCAFile "/etc/ssl/$ROOTCA.crt" --sslPEMKeyFile "/etc/ssl/$HOSTNAME.pem" --host $HOSTNAME -u root admin -p

Install Certificate Files on Web Servers¶