Clusters in Security Mode¶
Security mode is supported for Elasticsearch 7.1.1 and later versions. After you enable security mode, identity verification, authorization, and encryption are required.
This section describes the security mode using Kibana as an example.
Note
You can enable security mode only during cluster creation and not after the cluster is created.
Key Terms¶
Term |
Description |
---|---|
Permission |
Single action, for example, creating an index (for example, indices:admin/create) |
Action group |
A group of permissions. For example, the predefined SEARCH action group grants roles permissions to use _search and _msearchAPI. |
Role |
A role is a combination of permissions and action groups, including operation permissions on clusters, indices, documents, or fields. |
Backend role |
(Optional) Other external roles from the backend such as LDAP/Active Directory |
User |
A user can send operation requests to the Elasticsearch cluster. The user has credentials such as username and password, zero or more backend roles, and zero or more custom attributes. |
Role mapping |
A user will be assigned a role after successful authentication. Role mapping is to map a role to a user (or a backend role). For example, the mapping from kibana_user (role) to jdoe (user) means that John Doe obtains all permissions of kibana_user after being authenticated by kibana_user. Similarly, the mapping from all_access (role) to admin (backend role) means that any user with the backend role admin (from the LDAP/Active Directory server) has all the permissions of role all_access after being authenticated. You can map each role to multiple users or backend roles. |
Identity Verification¶
After enabling the security mode, you need to log in to the cluster with the username and password that you set when you create the cluster. You can perform other operations after you log in successfully.
Encryption¶
When key data is transferred between nodes or over HTTP, SSL/TLS encryption is used to ensure data security.
You can perform the preceding functions on Kibana, using .yml files (not recommended), or by calling RESTful APIs. For more information about the security mode, see Security.
Resetting Passwords¶
If you want to change the login password of a cluster with the security mode enabled or you have forgotten the password, reset the cluster password.
On the Clusters page, locate the target cluster whose password you want to reset and click the cluster name. The Basic Information page is displayed.
On the Basic Information page, click Reset next to Reset Password to reset the password.
Note
The password can contain 8 to 32 characters.
It must include letters, digits, and special characters. No spaces and backslashes (\) are allowed.
It cannot be the username or the username spelled backwards.
It is good practice to change the password periodically.