Encryption: Data in Transit Node to Node

Communication between all or some nodes can be encrypted. The controlling parameter is :code:server_encryption_options.

Once enabled, all communication between the nodes is transmitted over TLS/SSL. The libraries used by ScyllaDB for OpenSSL are FIPS 140-2 certified.

To build a self-signed certificate chain, see :doc:generating a self-signed certificate chain using openssl </operating-scylla/security/generate-certificate/>.

Procedure

#. Configure the internode_encryption, under :code:/etc/scylla/scylla.yaml.

Available options are:

internode_encryption can be one of the following:
- none (default) - No traffic is encrypted.
- all - Encrypts all traffic
- dc - Encrypts the traffic between the data centers.
- rack - Encrypts the traffic between the racks.
- transitional - Encrypts all outgoing traffic, but allows non-encrypted incoming. Used for upgrading cluster(s) without downtime.
certificate - A PEM format certificate, either self-signed, or provided by a certificate authority (CA).
keyfile - The corresponding PEM format key for the certificate.
truststore - Optional path to a PEM format certificate store of trusted CAs. If not provided, ScyllaDB will attempt to use the system trust store to authenticate certificates.
certficate_revocation_list - The path to a PEM-encoded certificate revocation list (CRL) - a list of issued certificates that have been revoked before their expiration date.
require_client_auth - Set to True to require client side authorization. False by default.
priority_string - Specifies session's handshake algorithms and options to use. By default there are none. For information on priority strings, refer to this guide <https://gnutls.org/manual/html_node/Priority-Strings.html>_.

scylla.yaml example:

.. code-block:: yaml

  server_encryption_options:
      internode_encryption: <none|rack|dc|all|transitional>
      certificate: <path to a PEM-encoded certificate file>
      keyfile: <path to a PEM-encoded key for certificate>
      truststore: <path to a PEM-encoded trust store> (optional)
      certficate_revocation_list: <path to a PEM-encoded CRL file> (optional)

#. Restart ScyllaDB node to apply the changes.

.. include:: /rst_include/scylla-commands-restart-index.rst

.. include:: /operating-scylla/security/_common/ssl-hot-reload.rst

Moving an existing cluster to TLS without downtime

Upgrading an existing cluster, without TLS enabled, to use secure traffic requires a series of incremental operations:

#. For each node, add a passive TLS configuration, with internode encryption still off, and restart the node:

.. code-block:: yaml

  ssl_storage_port: 7001
  server_encryption_options:
      internode_encryption: none
      certificate: <path to a PEM-encoded certificate file>
      keyfile: <path to a PEM-encoded key for certificate>
      truststore: <path to a PEM-encoded trust store> (optional)
      certficate_revocation_list: <path to a PEM-encoded CRL file> (optional)

This will enable a passive TLS connector on each node. Outgoing traffic will still be unencrypted.

#. For each node, change the internode_encryption parameter to transitional and restart. This will cause all outgoing traffic to use encryption.

#. For each node, change the internode_encryption parameter to all, rack or dc and restart. This will cause outgoing traffic to use encryption depending on destination, and will also enforce incoming traffic use encryption if required by the mode.