Generate a cqlshrc File¶

Prerequisites¶

Install the Java Cryptography Extensions. You can download the extensions from Oracle. The extension must match your installed Java version. Once downloaded, extract the contents of the archive to the lib/security subdirectory of your JRE installation directory /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/security/14.

Procedure¶

1. Create a new cqlsh configuration file at ~/.cassandra/cqlshrc, using the template below.

   [authentication]
   username = myusername
   password = mypassword
   [cql]
   version = 3.3.1
   [connection]
   hostname = 127.0.0.1
   port = 9042
   factory = cqlshlib.ssl.ssl_transport_factory
   [ssl]
   certfile = path/to/rootca.crt
   validate = true
   userkey = client_key.key
   usercert = client_cert.crt_signed
   

   The [ssl] section of the above template applies to a CA signed certificate. If you are using a self-signed certificate, the [ssl] section will resemble the following:

   [ssl]
   certfile = /etc/scylla/db.crt
   validate = true
   userkey = /etc/scylla/db.key
   usercert = /etc/scylla/db.crt
   

   Note

   • If validate = true, the certificate name must match the machine’s hostname.

   • If using client authentication (require_client_auth = true in cassandra.yaml), you also need to point to your userkey and usercert. SSL client authentication is only supported via cqlsh on C* 2.1 and later.

2. Change the following parameters:

   Parameter name	Description	Acceptable Values / Notes
   username	Your username	This requires password authentication to be set and roles to be created.
   password	The password that is associated with the username you specified.	This requires password authentication to be set and roles to be created.
   version	CQL version that the cluster you are connecting to is using	If you are not sure run nodetool version
   certfile	Root certificate that was used to sign file specified with the usercert parameter	Applies to CA signed certificates
   userkey	Key certificate used for cqlsh
   usercert	Signed security certificate to use when connecting to a node using cqlsh

3. Save your changes. Connect to the node using cqlsh --ssl. If the configuration settings were saved correctly, you will be able to connect.

4. Run Cassandra Stress to generate required files and to connect to the SSL cluster. Supply the URL of the SSH node, and the path to your certificates. In addition supply the credentials associated with the certificate. The truststore file is the Java keystore containing the cluster’s SSL certificates. For example:

   $> cassandra-stress write -node 127.0.0.1 -transport truststore=/path/to/cluster/truststore.jks truststore-password=mytruststorepassword -mode native cql3 user=username password=mypassword
   

   Cassandra stress will generate some files, you will need these to configure client - node encryption in-transit.

Additional Topics¶

• Encryption: Data in Transit Client to Node