17.9. Secure TCP/IP Connections with SSL
Postgres Pro has native support for usingSSL connections to encrypt client/server communications for increased security. WithSSL support compiled in, thePostgres Pro server can be started withSSL enabled by setting the parameterssl to Postgres Pro reads the system-wideOpenSSL configuration file. By default, this file is named OpenSSL supports a wide range of ciphers and authentication algorithms, of varying strength. While a list of ciphers can be specified in theOpenSSL configuration file, you can specify ciphers specifically for use by the database server by modifyingssl_ciphers in It is possible to have authentication without encryption overhead by using To start inSSL mode, files containing the server certificate and private key must exist. By default, these files are expected to be named On Unix systems, the permissions on If the private key is protected with a passphrase, the server will prompt for the passphrase and will not start until it has been entered. The first certificate in It is not necessary to add the root certificate to To require the client to supply a trusted certificate, place certificates of the root certificate authorities (CAs) you trust in a file in the data directory, set the parameterssl_ca_file in Intermediate certificates that chain up to existing root certificates can also appear in the file The If you are setting up client certificates, you may wish to use the Table 17.2 summarizes the files that are relevant to the SSL setup on the server. (The shown file names are default or typical names. The locally configured names could be different.) Table 17.2. SSL Server File Usage The files To create a simple self-signed certificate for the server, valid for 365 days, use the followingOpenSSL command, replacing Then do: because the server will reject the file if its permissions are more liberal than this. For more details on how to create your server private key and certificate, refer to theOpenSSL documentation. While a self-signed certificate can be used for testing, a certificate signed by a certificate authority (CA) (usually an enterprise-wide rootCA) should be used in production.on
inpostgresql.conf
. The server will listen for both normal andSSL connections on the same TCP port, and will negotiate with any connecting client on whether to useSSL. By default, this is at the client's option; seeSection 19.1 about how to set up the server to require use ofSSL for some or all connections.openssl.cnf
and is located in the directory reported byopenssl version -d
. This default can be overridden by setting environment variableOPENSSL_CONF
to the name of the desired configuration file.postgresql.conf
.Note
NULL-SHA
orNULL-MD5
ciphers. However, a man-in-the-middle could read and pass communications between client and server. Also, encryption overhead is minimal compared to the overhead of authentication. For these reasons NULL ciphers are not recommended.server.crt
andserver.key
, respectively, in the server's data directory, but other names and locations can be specified using the configuration parametersssl_cert_file andssl_key_file.server.key
must disallow any access to world or group; achieve this by the commandchmod 0600 server.key
. Alternatively, the file can be owned by root and have group read access (that is,0640
permissions). That setup is intended for installations where certificate and key files are managed by the operating system. The user under which thePostgres Pro server runs should then be made a member of the group that has access to those certificate and key files.server.crt
must be the server's certificate because it must match the server's private key. The certificates of“intermediate” certificate authorities can also be appended to the file. Doing this avoids the necessity of storing intermediate certificates on clients, assuming the root and intermediate certificates were created withv3_ca
extensions. (This sets the certificate's basic constraint ofCA
totrue
.) This allows easier expiration of intermediate certificates.server.crt
. Instead, clients must have the root certificate of the server's certificate chain.17.9.1. Using Client Certificates
postgresql.conf
to the new file name, and add the authentication optionclientcert=1
to the appropriatehostssl
line(s) inpg_hba.conf
. A certificate will then be requested from the client during SSL connection startup. (SeeSection 30.18 for a description of how to set up certificates on the client.) The server will verify that the client's certificate is signed by one of the trusted certificate authorities.root.crt
if you wish to avoid storing them on clients (assuming the root and intermediate certificates were created withv3_ca
extensions). Certificate Revocation List (CRL) entries are also checked if the parameterssl_crl_file is set.clientcert
authentication option is available for all authentication methods, but only inpg_hba.conf
lines specified ashostssl
. Whenclientcert
is not specified or is set to 0, the server will still verify any presented client certificates against its CA file, if one is configured — but it will not insist that a client certificate be presented.cert
authentication method, so that the certificates control user authentication as well as providing connection security. SeeSection 19.3.9 for details. (It is not necessary to specifyclientcert=1
explicitly when using thecert
authentication method.)17.9.2. SSL Server File Usage
File Contents Effect ssl_cert_file ( $PGDATA/server.crt
)server certificate sent to client to indicate server's identity ssl_key_file ( $PGDATA/server.key
)server private key proves server certificate was sent by the owner; does not indicate certificate owner is trustworthy ssl_ca_file ( $PGDATA/root.crt
)trusted certificate authorities checks that client certificate is signed by a trusted certificate authority ssl_crl_file ( $PGDATA/root.crl
)certificates revoked by certificate authorities client certificate must not be on this list server.key
,server.crt
,root.crt
, androot.crl
(or their configured alternative names) are only examined during server start; so you must restart the server for changes in them to take effect.17.9.3. Creating Certificates
dbhost.yourdomain.com
with the server's host name:openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -text -out server.crt \ -keyout server.key -subj "/CN=
dbhost.yourdomain.com
"chmod og-rwx server.key