Generate a cqlshrc File¶

Making connections to a Scylla cluster that uses SSL can be a tricky process, but it doesn’t diminish the importance of properly securing your client connections with SSL. This is especially needed whtn you are connecting to your cluster via the Internet or an untrusted network.

Before You Begin

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’s installation directory /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/security/14.

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

   [authentication]
   username = myusername
   password = mypassword
   [cql]
   ; Substitute for the version of Cassandra you are connecting to.
   version = 3.3.1
   [connection]
   hostname = 127.0.0.1
   port = 9042
   factory = cqlshlib.ssl.ssl_transport_factory
   [ssl]
   certfile = /etc/scylla/db.crt
   ; Note: If validate = true then the certificate name must match the machine's hostname
   validate = true
   ; If using client authentication (require_client_auth = true in cassandra.yaml) you'll also need to point to your userkey and usercert.
   ; SSL client authentication is only supported via cqlsh on C* 2.1 and greater.
   ; This is disabled by default on all Instaclustr-managed clusters.
   userkey = /etc/scylla/db.key
   usercert = /etc/scylla/db.crt
   

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

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.