Configure TLS with Hazelcast Platform Operator tutorial

Learn how to secure Hazelcast cluster with TLS and Hazelcast Kubernetes Operator.

Context

In this tutorial, you'll do the following:

• Create Kubernetes Secret with TLS certificate and key.
• Deploy Hazelcast cluster with TLS (mTLS) encryption enforced between members.
• Deploy Management Center to monitor your Hazelcast cluster.
• Connect to your cluster using TLS to encrypt member to client network traffic.

Before you Begin

Before starting this tutorial, make sure that you meet the following prerequisites:

• Up and running Kubernetes cluster
• Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl
• Deployed Hazelcast Platform Operator version 5.8 or above
• OpenSSL command-line tool, openssl

Step 1. Create Kubernetes Secret with TLS certificate and key

1. Generate TLS certificate and key in PEM format using OpenSSL

   shell

   openssl req -x509 -sha256 -nodes -days 3650 -subj '/CN=example' -addext "subjectAltName=DNS:example" -newkey rsa:2048 -outform pem -keyout example.key -out example.crt -addext "extendedKeyUsage=serverAuth,clientAuth"

2. Create Kubernetes Secret with TLS certificate and key

   shell

   kubectl create secret generic example \
     --from-file=tls.crt=example.crt \
     --from-file=tls.key=example.key

   note

   You can also set ca.crt to create a truststore. For more information, see TLS.

Step 2. Deploy Hazelcast cluster with TLS

1. Create a secret with your Hazelcast Enterprise License.

   shell

   kubectl create secret generic hazelcast-license-key --from-literal=license-key=<hz-license-key>

2. Create the Hazelcast cluster with TLS configured.

   yaml

   kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
   apiVersion: hazelcast.com/v1alpha1
   kind: Hazelcast
   metadata:
     name: hazelcast
   spec:
     clusterSize: 3
     licenseKeySecretName: hazelcast-license-key
     tls:
       secretName: example
     exposeExternally:
       type: Smart
       discoveryServiceType: LoadBalancer
       memberAccess: LoadBalancer
   EOF

3. Run the following commands to check cluster status

   shell

   kubectl get hazelcast hazelcast
   NAME        STATUS    MEMBERS
   hazelcast   Running   3/3

4. Run the following commands to fetch external addresses of the cluster:

   shell

   kubectl get hazelcastendpoint --selector="app.kubernetes.io/instance=hazelcast"
   NAME            TYPE        ADDRESS
   hazelcast       Discovery   35.184.21.18:5701
   hazelcast-0     Member      35.188.131.33:5701
   hazelcast-1     Member      34.122.242.55:5701
   hazelcast-2     Member      35.194.44.37:5701
   hazelcast-wan   WAN         35.184.21.18:5710

Step 3. Deploy Management Center

Enabling TLS for a Hazelcast cluster adds an essential layer of security to protect data during communication. When TLS is enabled, all clients, including the Management Center, must be configured with the appropriate TLS certificates to establish a secure connection with the Hazelcast cluster.

Apply the Management Center custom resource:

yaml

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: hazelcast.com/v1alpha1
kind: ManagementCenter
metadata:
  name: managementcenter
spec:
  repository: 'hazelcast/management-center'
  licenseKeySecretName: hazelcast-license-key
  externalConnectivity:
    type: LoadBalancer
  hazelcastClusters:
    - address: hazelcast
      name: dev
      tls:
        secretName: example
EOF

Step 4. Connect to Hazelcast cluster over TLS

1. Clone the examples repository to access all sample clients:

   shell

   git clone https://github.com/hazelcast-guides/hazelcast-platform-operator-tls.git
   cd hazelcast-platform-operator-tls

   The sample code(excluding CLC) for this tutorial is in the docs/modules/ROOT/examples/ directory.

2. Configure the Hazelcast client with the TLS certificate:

   CLC

   note

   Before using CLC, it should be installed in your system. Check the installation instructions for CLC: Installing the Hazelcast CLC.

   Run the following command for adding the cluster config to the CLC.

   shell

   clc config add hz cluster.name=dev cluster.address=<EXTERNAL-IP> ssl.enabled=true ssl.server=example ssl.ca-path=<PATH/TO/example.crt>

   Java

   java

   package com.hazelcast;
   
   import com.hazelcast.client.HazelcastClient;
   import com.hazelcast.client.config.ClientConfig;
   import com.hazelcast.config.SSLConfig;
   import com.hazelcast.core.HazelcastInstance;
   
   import java.util.Properties;
   
   public class example {
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
       ClientConfig config = new ClientConfig();
       config.getNetworkConfig().addAddress("<EXTERNAL-IP>");
   
       Properties clientSSLProps = new Properties();
       clientSSLProps.setProperty("trustStore", "example.jks");
       clientSSLProps.setProperty("trustStorePassword", "hazelcast");
       config.getNetworkConfig().setSSLConfig(new SSLConfig()
         .setEnabled(true)
         .setProperties(clientSSLProps));
   
       HazelcastInstance client = HazelcastClient.newHazelcastClient(config);
       System.out.println("Successful connection!");
     }
   }

   NodeJS

   javascript

   'use strict';
   
   const { Client } = require('hazelcast-client');
   
   const clientConfig = {
     network: {
       clusterMembers: [
         '<EXTERNAL-IP>'
       ],
       ssl: {
         enabled: true,
         sslOptionsFactoryProperties: {
           caPath: 'example.crt',
           servername: 'example',
         }
       }
     }
   };
   
   (async () => {
     try {
       const client = await Client.newHazelcastClient(clientConfig);
       console.log('Successful connection!');
     } catch (err) {
       console.error('Error occurred:', err);
     }
   })();

   Go

   go

   package main
   
   import (
   	"context"
   	"crypto/tls"
   	"fmt"
   
   	"github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast-go-client"
   	"github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast-go-client/cluster"
   )
   
   func main() {
   	var clusterConfig cluster.Config
   	clusterConfig.Network.SetAddresses("<EXTERNAL-IP>")
   	clusterConfig.Discovery.UsePublicIP = true
   	clusterConfig.Network.SSL.Enabled = true
   	clusterConfig.Network.SSL.SetTLSConfig(&tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: true})
   
   	ctx := context.Background()
   	config := hazelcast.Config{Cluster: clusterConfig}
   	client, err := hazelcast.StartNewClientWithConfig(ctx, config)
   	if err != nil {
   		panic(err)
   	}
   	fmt.Println("Successful connection!", client)
   }

   Python

   python

   import logging
   
   import hazelcast
   
   logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
   
   client = hazelcast.HazelcastClient(
       cluster_members=["<EXTERNAL-IP>"],
       use_public_ip=True,
       ssl_enabled=True,
       ssl_cafile="example.crt",
   )
   
   print("Successful connection!", flush=True)

3. Build and run the Hazelcast client example:

   CLC

   shell

   clc -c hz map size

   Java

   bash

   cd java
   mvn package
   java -jar target/*.jar

   NodeJS

   bash

   cd nodejs
   npm install
   npm start

   Go

   bash

   cd go
   go run example.go

   Python

   bash

   cd python
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   python example.py

Step 5. Clean Up

To clean up the created resources remove the all Custom Resources and secrets:

shell

kubectl delete $(kubectl get hazelcast,managementcenter -o name)
kubectl delete secret example

See Also

• Install Operator and deploy a Hazelcast cluster
• Deploy Management Center
• Configure TLS