Cluster Single Sign-on (SSO) using JSON web tokens (JWTs)

CockroachDB clusters allow users to authenticate with Single Sign-on (SSO), both to the DB Console, and for SQL client access.

Cluster single sign-on (SSO) enables users to access the SQL interface of a CockroachDB cluster (whether provisioned on CockroachDB Cloud or Self-Hosted) with the full security of single sign-on (SSO), and the choice of a variety of cloud-based or customer-managed identity providers (IdPs).

Dedicated clusters can provision their users with JWTs via the DB Console. This allows users to authenticate to a cluster by signing in to their IdP (for example, Okta or Google) with a link embedded in the DB Console. This flow provisions a JWT that a user can copy out of the DB Console UI and use in a SQL connection string to authenticate to the cluster.

The page describes how to configure a cluster for cluster single sign-on using JWTs and then how users can authenticate using the JWTs. If you're a user ready to sign in to the DB Console with JWTs, you can skip the configuration section:

• Configure a cluster for cluster single sign-on using JWTs
• Authenticate to your cluster

Prerequisites

• You must have your cluster pre-configured for OIDC/SSO authentication for DB Console. Use the Single Sign-on (SSO) for DB Console guide to set this up.

• SQL users/credentials:

  • You must have the ability to update your cluster settings, which can be achieved in several ways. Refer to SET CLUSTER SETTING: Required permissions .
  • A SQL user that corresponds with your external identity must be pre-provisioned on the cluster. To provision such users, you must have access to the admin role.

Configure your cluster for SSO

Prerequisites:

You must have the ability to update your cluster settings, which can be achieved in several ways. Refer to SET CLUSTER SETTING: Required permissions

Cluster Settings

You must configure the cluster settings in the following table to enable JWT authentication to your cluster. Refer to the Update your cluster settings section to configure your cluster settings.

Cluster Setting	Description
server.jwt_authentication.enabled	Defaults to false, must be set to true to enable embedded JWT generation..
server.jwt_authentication.jwks	A list of public signing keys for allowed IdPs; must include your IdP's key. If server.jwt_authentication.jwks_auto_fetch.enabled is true, keys are fetched automatically and server.jwt_authentication.jwks is ignored.
New in v23.1:
server.jwt_authentication.jwks_auto_fetch.enabled	If true, public signing keys are automatically fetched from the domains specified in server.jwt_authentication.issuers for each session, and server.jwt_authentication.jwks is ignored. Defaults to false.
server.jwt_authentication.issuers	A list of accepted token issuers; must include your IdP.
server.jwt_authentication.audience	This must match server.oidc_authentication.client_id; refer to Single Sign-on (SSO) for DB Console.
server.jwt_authentication.claim	Which JWT field will be used to determine the user identity in CockroachDB; normally set either to email, or sub (subject).
server.oidc_authentication.generate_cluster_sso_token.enabled	Enables token generation; must be set to true.
server.oidc_authentication.generate_cluster_sso_token.use_token	Selects which part of the received OIDC credentials to display.
server.identity_map.configuration	Takes an Identity Map configuration.
server.sql_host	This display value informs users the host for their SQL connections. Default: localhost.
server.sql_port	This display value informs users the port for their SQL connections. Default: 26257.

Update your cluster settings

You can update your cluster settings with the SET CLUSTER SETTING SQL statement.

1. Enable JWT SQL authentication to your cluster.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.jwt_authentication.enabled = true;
   

2. Add your IdP's formal issuer name to your cluster's list of accepted token issuers. The issuer name is usually the issuer's domain and must match the iss field in the JWT itself.

   This must match your cluster's configured value for server.oidc_authentication.provider_url. Refer to Single Sign-on (SSO) for DB Console. Issuers are expected to publish their configuration at https://{ domain }/.well-known/openid-configuration. For example:

   - CockroachDB Cloud's IdP configuration can be viewed publicly at: https://cockroachlabs.cloud/.well-known/openid-configuration. The issuer is https://cockroachlabs.cloud.

   - For Google Cloud Platform, the openid-configuration can be found at https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration. The issuer is https://accounts.google.com.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.jwt_authentication.issuers = 'https://accounts.google.com';
   

3. Set server.jwt_authentication.audience to the ID of your cluster as specified by the IdP, or a JSON array of such names. This must match server.oidc_authentication.client_id; refer to Single Sign-on (SSO) for DB Console.

   Warning:

   Many third-party token issuers, including GCP and Azure, will by default create tokens with a generic default audience. It is recommended to limit the scope of access tokens as much as possible, so if possible, we recommend issuing tokens with only the required audience value corresponding to the audience configured on the cluster.

   By extension, if your provider allows you to specify scopes or permissions on the token, you should specify these as restrictively as possible, while still allowing for the functions intended for the service account or user.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.jwt_authentication.audience = '984901724939-njig7lkv7k724rbv2hllvr4of8ul7th7.apps.googleusercontent.com';
   

4. Set server.jwt_authentication.claim to the field in the JWT that the cluster will use as the identity of the SQL user. To use the email field in the JWT, set server.jwt_authentication.claim to email.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.jwt_authentication.claim = 'email';
   

5. Set server.jwt_authentication.jwks to one or more signing keys which are valid to sign JWKS, in JWK format, containing the public keys for SSO token issuers/IdPs that will be accepted by your cluster. This list must include a given IdP, or the cluster will reject JWTs issued by it. IdPs are expected to serve their public certificates and other required information at https://{ domain }/.well-known/openid-configuration.

   IdPs such as Google rotate their signing keys periodically. You must update your cluster with a new signing key before the previous one expires, or your SQL clients will be unable to connect with cluster SSO. We recommend updating this cluster setting with the current key daily to avoid this scenario. Alternatively, you can enable server.jwt_authentication.jwks_auto_fetch.enabled to automatically fetch signing keys from the issuer instead of maintaining a static list of signing keys. If server.jwt_authentication.jwks_auto_fetch.enabled is enabled, then server.jwt_authentication.jwks is ignored.

   Dedicated customers:

   By default, your cluster's configuration will contain the CockroachDB Cloud's own public key, allowing CockroachDB Cloud to serve as an IdP. This is required for SSO with ccloud. When modifying this cluster setting, you must include the CockroachDB Cloud public key in the key set, or SSO with ccloud will no longer work.

   The public key for can be found at https://cockroachlabs.cloud/.well-known/openid-configuration.

   For example:

   curl --silent https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration | jq .jwks_uri | xargs curl
   

   {
     "keys": [
       {
         "alg": "RS256",
         "use": "sig",
         "e": "AQAB",
         "kty": "RSA",
         "kid": "7c0b6913fe13820a333399ace426e70535a9a0bf",
         "n": "lWXY0XOj_ikSIDIvGOhfuRhQJAAj6BWsbbZ6P-PXRclzV32-QLB4GZHPPcH37Lou5pQsTQPvTETAfCLnglIRSbP8x1zA5tUakRlm5RiGF4kcWh5k60x8u0Uslx-d6EueKuY-KLHUVDuMULlHkYAScIdYnXz-Cnr6PFZj8RQezzdPVPH53Q8a_Z9b-vpGzsMS5gszITb-72OQNokojXdPVctl5WzSx-JnWbJxPiwHx_dSWgmTnyiYrZLqrqfampGdroaamtIXy0W8CAe0uCqcD1LunpfX-Q-RD1IycxnEaXSuUKhNhCcxtHWrozEyeD23Zja2WlcvHdYuTzyrvrvS9Q"
       },
       {
         "kid": "6f7254101f56e41cf35c9926de84a2d552b4c6f1",
         "e": "AQAB",
         "alg": "RS256",
         "use": "sig",
         "n": "oUriU8GqbRw-avcMn95DGW1cpZR1IoM6L7krfrWvLSSCcSX6Ig117o25Yk7QWBiJpaPV0FbP7Y5-DmThZ3SaF0AXW-3BsKPEXfFfeKVc6vBqk3t5mKlNEowjdvNTSzoOXO5UIHwsXaxiJlbMRalaFEUm-2CKgmXl1ss_yGh1OHkfnBiGsfQUndKoHiZuDzBMGw8Sf67am_Ok-4FShK0NuR3-q33aB_3Z7obC71dejSLWFOEcKUVCaw6DGVuLog3x506h1QQ1r0FXKOQxnmqrRgpoHqGSouuG35oZve1vgCU4vLZ6EAgBAbC0KL35I7_0wUDSMpiAvf7iZxzJVbspkQ",
         "kty": "RSA"
       }
     ]
   }
   

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.jwt_authentication.jwks = '{
     "keys": [
       {
         "alg": "RS256",
         "use": "sig",
         "e": "AQAB",
         "kty": "RSA",
         "kid": "7c0b6913fe13820a333399ace426e70535a9a0bf",
         "n": "lWXY0XOj_ikSIDIvGOhfuRhQJAAj6BWsbbZ6P-PXRclzV32-QLB4GZHPPcH37Lou5pQsTQPvTETAfCLnglIRSbP8x1zA5tUakRlm5RiGF4kcWh5k60x8u0Uslx-d6EueKuY-KLHUVDuMULlHkYAScIdYnXz-Cnr6PFZj8RQezzdPVPH53Q8a_Z9b-vpGzsMS5gszITb-72OQNokojXdPVctl5WzSx-JnWbJxPiwHx_dSWgmTnyiYrZLqrqfampGdroaamtIXy0W8CAe0uCqcD1LunpfX-Q-RD1IycxnEaXSuUKhNhCcxtHWrozEyeD23Zja2WlcvHdYuTzyrvrvS9Q"
       },
       {
         "kid": "6f7254101f56e41cf35c9926de84a2d552b4c6f1",
         "e": "AQAB",
         "alg": "RS256",
         "use": "sig",
         "n": "oUriU8GqbRw-avcMn95DGW1cpZR1IoM6L7krfrWvLSSCcSX6Ig117o25Yk7QWBiJpaPV0FbP7Y5-DmThZ3SaF0AXW-3BsKPEXfFfeKVc6vBqk3t5mKlNEowjdvNTSzoOXO5UIHwsXaxiJlbMRalaFEUm-2CKgmXl1ss_yGh1OHkfnBiGsfQUndKoHiZuDzBMGw8Sf67am_Ok-4FShK0NuR3-q33aB_3Z7obC71dejSLWFOEcKUVCaw6DGVuLog3x506h1QQ1r0FXKOQxnmqrRgpoHqGSouuG35oZve1vgCU4vLZ6EAgBAbC0KL35I7_0wUDSMpiAvf7iZxzJVbspkQ",
         "kty": "RSA"
       }
     ]
   }';
   

6. Instead of setting server.jwt_authentication.jwks to a list of static signing keys, you can set server.server.jwt_authentication.jwks_auto_fetch.enabled to true to enable automatic fetching of signing keys for the issuers specified in server.jwt_authentication.issuers. Signing keys are fetched from the issuer'shttps://{ domain }/.well-known/openid-configuration endpoint.

7. Set your Identity Map. Refer to Identity Map configuration.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.identity_map.configuration = 'https://accounts.google.com /^(.*)@cockroachlabs\.com$ \1'  ;
   

8. Enable token generation.

   This will also cause the token generation button to appear in the UI.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.oidc_authentication.generate_cluster_sso_token.enabled = true;
   

9. Set use_token, which determines how the user's identity will be displayed.

   It can be set to either id_token or access_token, depending on the structure of the your JWT as determined in your IDP configuration.

   SET CLUSTER SETTING server.oidc_authentication.generate_cluster_sso_token.use_token = id_token;
   

How CockroachDB determines the SQL username from a JWT

1. server.jwt_authentication.claim determines which field to use to identify the external user. This must match a SQL user via the identity map.
2. server.identity_map.configuration maps that claim (along with the token’s issuer) to a SQL username.

Identity Map configuration

Th cluster setting server.identity_map.configuration holds your cluster's identity map configuration, which tells your cluster how to map external identities to SQL users. This is functionally similar to PostgreSQL's User Name Map.

The format of an identity map configuration is a space-separated triple consisting of:

<external issuer> <external user ID> <SQL username>

Examples:

• https://accounts.google.com /^(.*)@cockroachlabs\.com$ \1

  Maps every cockroachlabs email to a SQL user with the same username. That is, the part of the email address to the left of the @). For example, docs@cockroachlabs.com becomes docs.

• https://accounts.google.com 1232316645658094244789 roach

  Maps a single external identity with the hard-coded ID to the SQL user roach.

• https://accounts.google.com /^([9-0]*)$ gcp_\1

  Maps each GCP-provisioned service account to a SQL user named gcp_{ GCP user ID }. For example, gcp_1234567 for a service account with ID 1234567.

Authenticate to your cluster

Once ConsoleDB SSO and Cluster SSO with JWTs are enabled and your cluster is properly configured (including mapping authorized external users to SQL roles), users can self-provision auth tokens through a sign-in flow embedded in the DB Console. These tokens (JWTs) are intended as short-lived credentials, and although their expiry depends on the IdP configuration, it is usually 1 hour.

1. Obtain a token.

   Go to your cluster's DB Console and click the Generate JWT auth token for cluster SSO button

2. Use the token in place of a password in your database connection string.

   cockroach sql --url "postgresql://{SQL_USERNAME}:{JWT_TOKEN}@{CLUSTER_HOST}:26257?options=--crdb:jwt_auth_enabled=true" --certs-dir={CLUSTER_CERT_DIR}
   

   Welcome to the cockroach SQL interface...
   

What's Next?

• Learn more about Authentication in CockroachDB.
• This Cockroach Labs blog post covers and provides further resources for a variety of auth token-issuing use cases, including using Okta and Google Cloud Platform to issue tokens.