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Encrypt Cluster and Client Elasticsearch Networks

No matter what technology we are working with, we always need to be mindful of security. Big data platforms are certainly no exception, as they can contain massive amounts of sensitive data that must be protected. Elasticsearch provides multiple security mechanisms through X-Pack Security. In this hands-on lab, you will complete the following tasks on a 3-node Elasticsearch cluster: * Generate a certificate authority * Generate node certificates * Add certificate passwords to Elasticsearch's keystore * Enable cluster (transport) network encryption * Enable client (HTTP) network encryption * Set built-in user passwords

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Advanced
Duration
Clock icon 1h 45m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 20, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Generate a Certificate Authority (CA).

    1. Using the Secure Shell (SSH), log in to each node as cloud_user via the public IP address.

    2. Become the elastic user with:

    sudo su - elastic
    1. Create a certs directory on each node:
    mkdir /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs
    1. On the master-1 node, create a CA certificate with password elastic_ca in the new certs directory:
    /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil ca --out config/certs/ca --pass elastic_ca

  2. Challenge

    Generate and deploy a certificate for each node per instructions.

    1. Using the Secure Shell (SSH), log in to the master-1 node as cloud_user via the public IP address.

    2. Become the elastic user with:

    sudo su - elastic
    1. On the master-1 node, generate each node's certificate with the CA per instructions:
    /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca config/certs/ca --ca-pass elastic_ca --name master-1 --dns ip-10-1-101.ec2.internal --ip 10.0.1.101 --out config/certs/master-1 --pass elastic_master_1
/home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca config/certs/ca --ca-pass elastic_ca --name master-2 --dns ip-10-1-102.ec2.internal --ip 10.0.1.102 --out config/certs/master-2 --pass elastic_master_2
/home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca config/certs/ca --ca-pass elastic_ca --name master-3 --dns ip-10-1-103.ec2.internal --ip 10.0.1.103 --out config/certs/master-3 --pass elastic_master_3
/home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca config/certs/ca --ca-pass elastic_ca --name data-1 --dns ip-10-1-104.ec2.internal --ip 10.0.1.104 --out config/certs/data-1 --pass elastic_data_1
/home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca config/certs/ca --ca-pass elastic_ca --name data-2 --dns ip-10-1-105.ec2.internal --ip 10.0.1.105 --out config/certs/data-2 --pass elastic_data_2
/home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-certutil cert --ca config/certs/ca --ca-pass elastic_ca --name data-3 --dns ip-10-1-106.ec2.internal --ip 10.0.1.106 --out config/certs/data-3 --pass elastic_data_3
    1. On the master-1 node, remote copy each certificate to the certs directory created on each node:
    scp /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs/master-2 10.0.1.102:/home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs
scp /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs/master-3 10.0.1.103:/home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs
scp /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs/data-1 10.0.1.104:/home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs
scp /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs/data-2 10.0.1.105:/home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs
scp /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs/data-3 10.0.1.106:/home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/certs
    1. Add the transport keystore password on each node:
    echo "CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD_HERE" | /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-keystore add --stdin xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.secure_password
    1. Add the transport truststore password on each node:
    echo "CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD_HERE" | /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-keystore add --stdin xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.secure_password
    1. Add the HTTP keystore password on each node:
    echo "CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD_HERE" | /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-keystore add --stdin xpack.security.http.ssl.keystore.secure_password
    1. Add the HTTP truststore password on each node:
    echo "CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD_HERE" | /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-keystore add --stdin xpack.security.http.ssl.truststore.secure_password

  3. Challenge

    Configure transport network encryption and restart Elasticsearch.

    1. Using the Secure Shell (SSH), log in to each node as cloud_user via the public IP address.

    2. Become the elastic user with:

    sudo su - elastic
    1. Add the following to /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.yml on each node:
    #
# ---------------------------------- X-Pack ------------------------------------
#
xpack.security.enabled: true
xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled: true
xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode: full
xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path: certs/CERTIFICATE_FILE_NAME_HERE
xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.path: certs/CERTIFICATE_FILE_NAME_HERE
    1. Stop Elasticsearch:
    pkill -F /home/elastic/elasticsearch/pid
    1. Start Elasticsearch as a background daemon and record the PID to a file:
    /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch -d -p pid

  4. Challenge

    Use the elasticsearch-setup-passwords tool to set the password for each built-in user.

    1. Using the Secure Shell (SSH), log in to the master-1 node as cloud_user via the public IP address.

    2. Become the elastic user with:

    sudo su - elastic
    1. Set the built-in user passwords using the elasticsearch-setup-passwords utility on the master-1 node:
    /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords interactive
    1. Use the following passwords:
    User: elastic
Password: la_elastic_409

User: apm_system
Password: la_apm_system_409

User: kibana
Password: la_kibana_409

User: logstash_system
Password: la_logstash_system_409

User: beats_system
Password: la_beats_system_409

User: remote_monitoring_user
Password: la_remote_monitoring_user_409

  5. Challenge

    Configure HTTP network encryption and restart Elasticsearch.

    1. Using the Secure Shell (SSH), log in to each node as cloud_user via the public IP address.

    2. Become the elastic user with:

    sudo su - elastic
    1. Add the following to /home/elastic/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.yml:
    xpack.security.http.ssl.enabled: true
xpack.security.http.ssl.keystore.path: certs/CERTIFICATE_FILE_NAME_HERE
xpack.security.http.ssl.truststore.path: certs/CERTIFICATE_FILE_NAME_HERE
    1. Stop Elasticsearch:
    pkill -F /home/elastic/elasticsearch/pid
    1. Start Elasticsearch as a background daemon and record the PID to a file:
    /home/elastic/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch -d -p pid
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