Initializing Standalone Key Trustee Server

If you are configuring high availability Key Trustee Server, skip this step and proceed to Cloudera Navigator Key Trustee Server High Availability. Cloudera strongly recommends configuring high availability for Key Trustee Server.

Initializing Standalone Key Trustee Server Using Cloudera Manager

For new installations, use the Set up HDFS Data At Rest Encryption wizard and follow the instructions in Enabling HDFS Encryption Using the Wizard. When prompted, deselect the Enable High Availability option to proceed in standalone mode.

To set up Key Trustee Server manually, add the Key Trustee Server service to your cluster, following the instructions in Adding a Service. When customizing role assignments, assign only the Active Key Trustee Server and Active Database roles.

For parcel-based Key Trustee Server releases 5.8 and higher, Cloudera Manager automatically backs up Key Trustee Server (using the ktbackup.sh script) after adding the Key Trustee Server service. It also schedules automatic backups using cron. For package-based installations, you must manually back up Key Trustee Server and configure a cron job.

Cloudera Manager configures cron to run the backup script hourly. The latest 10 backups are retained in /var/lib/keytrustee in cleartext. For information about using the backup script and configuring the cron job (including how to encrypt backups), see Backing Up Key Trustee Server and Key Trustee KMS Using the ktbackup.sh Script.

Specifying TLS/SSL Minimum Allowed Version and Ciphers

Depending on your cluster configuration and the security practices in your organization, you might need to restrict the allowed versions of TLS/SSL used by Key Trustee Server. Older TLS/SSL versions might have vulnerabilities or lack certain features.

Specify one of the following values using the Minimum TLS Support configuration setting:

  • tlsv1: Allow any TLS version of 1.0 or higher. This setting is the default when TLS/SSL is enabled.

  • tlsv1.1: Allow any TLS version of 1.1 or higher.

  • tlsv1.2: Allow any TLS version of 1.2 or higher.

Along with specifying the version, you can also specify the allowed set of TLS ciphers using the Supported Cipher Configuration for SSL configuration setting. The argument to this option is a list of keywords, separated by colons, commas, or spaces, and optionally including other notation. 
AES256:CAMELLIA256-SHA

By default, the cipher list is empty, and Key Trustee Server uses the default cipher list for the underlying platform. See the output of man ciphers for the full set of keywords and notation allowed in the argument string.