What changes to make in search guard config for modified elasticsearch.yml

Hi All,

After some hit and try on my local machine I was about to deploy Search Guard on test VM.
The non-prod elasticsearch node that is running have some modified elasticsearch.yml and kibana.yml.

I was going through the documentation to install on linux machine and came across
Execute ./install_demo_configuration.sh.

And it states below:-

Note that the script only works with vanilla Elasticsearch installations. If you already made changes to elasticsearch.yml , especially the cluster name and the host entries, you might need to adapt the generated configuration.

I naturally assumed some changes are required in sg_config since its the default config of SG but I am not sure what all changes are required or if its to be changed in this file. I am mentioning below the parameters of elasticsearch.yml and kibana.yml that are modified by previous guy. Please help me with the changes that are to be made in SG accordingly.

My elasticsearch.yml

# ======================== Elasticsearch Configuration =========================
#
# NOTE: Elasticsearch comes with reasonable defaults for most settings.
#       Before you set out to tweak and tune the configuration, make sure you
#       understand what are you trying to accomplish and the consequences.
#
# The primary way of configuring a node is via this file. This template lists
# the most important settings you may want to configure for a production cluster.
#
# Please consult the documentation for further information on configuration options:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/index.html
#
# ---------------------------------- Cluster -----------------------------------
#
# Use a descriptive name for your cluster:
#
cluster.name: my-data
#
# ------------------------------------ Node ------------------------------------
#
# Use a descriptive name for the node:
#
node.name: node-2
#
# Add custom attributes to the node:
#
node.attr.rack: r2
#
# ----------------------------------- Paths ------------------------------------
#
# Path to directory where to store the data (separate multiple locations by comma):
#
#path.data: /path/to/data
#
# Path to log files:
#
#path.logs: /path/to/logs
#
# ----------------------------------- Memory -----------------------------------
#
# Lock the memory on startup:
#
#bootstrap.memory_lock: true
#
# Make sure that the heap size is set to about half the memory available
# on the system and that the owner of the process is allowed to use this
# limit.
#
# Elasticsearch performs poorly when the system is swapping the memory.
#
# ---------------------------------- Network -----------------------------------
#
# Set the bind address to a specific IP (IPv4 or IPv6):
#
network.host: 10.123.211.98
#
# Set a custom port for HTTP:
#
http.port: 9202
#
# For more information, consult the network module documentation.
#
# --------------------------------- Discovery ----------------------------------
#
# Pass an initial list of hosts to perform discovery when new node is started:
# The default list of hosts is ["127.0.0.1", "[::1]"]
#
#discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts: ["host1", "host2"]
#
# Prevent the "split brain" by configuring the majority of nodes (total number of master-eligible nodes / 2 + 1):
#
#discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes: 
#
# For more information, consult the zen discovery module documentation.
#
# ---------------------------------- Gateway -----------------------------------
#
# Block initial recovery after a full cluster restart until N nodes are started:
#
#gateway.recover_after_nodes: 3
#
# For more information, consult the gateway module documentation.
#
# ---------------------------------- Various -----------------------------------
#
# Require explicit names when deleting indices:
#
#action.destructive_requires_name: true

In the above the field that are modified are:-

cluster.name
node.name
node.attr.rack
network.host
http.port

Similarly there are some changes in kibana.yml:

# Kibana is served by a back end server. This setting specifies the port to use.
server.port: 5603

# Specifies the address to which the Kibana server will bind. IP addresses and host names are both valid values.
# The default is 'localhost', which usually means remote machines will not be able to connect.
# To allow connections from remote users, set this parameter to a non-loopback address.
server.host: "10.123.211.98"

# Enables you to specify a path to mount Kibana at if you are running behind a proxy. This only affects
# the URLs generated by Kibana, your proxy is expected to remove the basePath value before forwarding requests
# to Kibana. This setting cannot end in a slash.
server.basePath: ""

# The maximum payload size in bytes for incoming server requests.
server.maxPayloadBytes: 1048576

# The Kibana server's name.  This is used for display purposes.
server.name: "myserver"

# The URL of the Elasticsearch instance to use for all your queries.
elasticsearch.url: "http://10.123.211.98:9202"

# When this setting's value is true Kibana uses the hostname specified in the server.host
# setting. When the value of this setting is false, Kibana uses the hostname of the host
# that connects to this Kibana instance.
#elasticsearch.preserveHost: true

# Kibana uses an index in Elasticsearch to store saved searches, visualizations and
# dashboards. Kibana creates a new index if the index doesn't already exist.
kibana.index: ".kibana"

# The default application to load.
kibana.defaultAppId: "house"

# If your Elasticsearch is protected with basic authentication, these settings provide
# the username and password that the Kibana server uses to perform maintenance on the Kibana
# index at startup. Your Kibana users still need to authenticate with Elasticsearch, which
# is proxied through the Kibana server.
#elasticsearch.username: "user"
#elasticsearch.password: "pass"

# Enables SSL and paths to the PEM-format SSL certificate and SSL key files, respectively.
# These settings enable SSL for outgoing requests from the Kibana server to the browser.
#server.ssl.enabled: false
#server.ssl.certificate: /path/to/your/server.crt
#server.ssl.key: /path/to/your/server.key

# Optional settings that provide the paths to the PEM-format SSL certificate and key files.
# These files validate that your Elasticsearch backend uses the same key files.
#elasticsearch.ssl.certificate: /path/to/your/client.crt
#elasticsearch.ssl.key: /path/to/your/client.key

# Optional setting that enables you to specify a path to the PEM file for the certificate
# authority for your Elasticsearch instance.
#elasticsearch.ssl.certificateAuthorities: [ "/path/to/your/CA.pem" ]

# To disregard the validity of SSL certificates, change this setting's value to 'none'.
elasticsearch.ssl.verificationMode: full

# Time in milliseconds to wait for Elasticsearch to respond to pings. Defaults to the value of
# the elasticsearch.requestTimeout setting.
elasticsearch.pingTimeout: 1500

# Time in milliseconds to wait for responses from the back end or Elasticsearch. This value
# must be a positive integer.
elasticsearch.requestTimeout: 30000

# List of Kibana client-side headers to send to Elasticsearch. To send *no* client-side
# headers, set this value to [] (an empty list).
elasticsearch.requestHeadersWhitelist: [ authorization ]

# Header names and values that are sent to Elasticsearch. Any custom headers cannot be overwritten
# by client-side headers, regardless of the elasticsearch.requestHeadersWhitelist configuration.
elasticsearch.customHeaders: {}

# Time in milliseconds for Elasticsearch to wait for responses from shards. Set to 0 to disable.
elasticsearch.shardTimeout: 0

# Time in milliseconds to wait for Elasticsearch at Kibana startup before retrying.
elasticsearch.startupTimeout: 5000

# Specifies the path where Kibana creates the process ID file.
pid.file: /apps/support/dump/tomcat/ELK_dummy_Search_Guard/kibana-6.2.4-linux-x86_64/kibana.pid

# Enables you specify a file where Kibana stores log output.
logging.dest: stdout

# Set the value of this setting to true to suppress all logging output.
logging.silent: false

# Set the value of this setting to true to suppress all logging output other than error messages.
logging.quiet: false

# Set the value of this setting to true to log all events, including system usage information
# and all requests.
logging.verbose: false

# Set the interval in milliseconds to sample system and process performance
# metrics. Minimum is 100ms. Defaults to 5000.
ops.interval: 5000

# The default locale. This locale can be used in certain circumstances to substitute any missing
# translations.
i18n.defaultLocale: "en"

Field changed from default conf in Kibana are:-

server.port: 5203
server.host: “10.23.213.99”
server.basePath: “”
server.maxPayloadBytes: 1048576
server.name: “myserver”
elasticsearch.url: “http://10.123.211.98:9202
kibana.index: “.kibana”
kibana.defaultAppId: “house”
elasticsearch.ssl.verificationMode: full
elasticsearch.pingTimeout: 1500
elasticsearch.requestTimeout: 30000
elasticsearch.requestHeadersWhitelist: [ authorization ]
elasticsearch.customHeaders: {}
elasticsearch.shardTimeout: 0
elasticsearch.startupTimeout: 5000
pid.file: /my/path/to/kibana.pid
logging.dest: stdout
logging.silent: false
logging.quiet: false
logging.verbose: false
ops.interval: 5000
i18n.defaultLocale: “en”

Can someone help with which all files I should make changes , or is it only sg_config?

And what all changes are to be made keeping in mind the above mentioned ES and Kibana .yml configs?

For elasticsearch.yml you need to configure at least the TLS part. Here’s what the demo installer would add to your elasticsearch.yml:

######## Start Search Guard Demo Configuration ########
# WARNING: revise all the lines below before you go into production
searchguard.ssl.transport.pemcert_filepath: esnode.pem
searchguard.ssl.transport.pemkey_filepath: esnode-key.pem
searchguard.ssl.transport.pemtrustedcas_filepath: root-ca.pem
searchguard.ssl.transport.enforce_hostname_verification: false
searchguard.ssl.http.enabled: true
searchguard.ssl.http.pemcert_filepath: esnode.pem
searchguard.ssl.http.pemkey_filepath: esnode-key.pem
searchguard.ssl.http.pemtrustedcas_filepath: root-ca.pem
searchguard.allow_unsafe_democertificates: true
searchguard.allow_default_init_sgindex: true
searchguard.authcz.admin_dn:
  - CN=kirk,OU=client,O=client,L=test, C=de

searchguard.audit.type: internal_elasticsearch
searchguard.enable_snapshot_restore_privilege: true
searchguard.check_snapshot_restore_write_privileges: true
searchguard.restapi.roles_enabled: ["sg_all_access"]
cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled: false
cluster.name: searchguard_demo
discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes: 1
node.max_local_storage_nodes: 3
xpack.security.enabled: false
######## End Search Guard Demo Configuration ######## 

As you can see it will set a cluster name which would conflict with your already configured cluster name. From all the configuration settings above the minimum is to configure the TLS stuff:

searchguard.ssl.transport.pemcert_filepath: esnode.pem
    searchguard.ssl.transport.pemkey_filepath: esnode-key.pem
    searchguard.ssl.transport.pemtrustedcas_filepath: root-ca.pem
    searchguard.ssl.transport.enforce_hostname_verification: false
    searchguard.ssl.http.enabled: true
    searchguard.ssl.http.pemcert_filepath: esnode.pem
    searchguard.ssl.http.pemkey_filepath: esnode-key.pem
    searchguard.ssl.http.pemtrustedcas_filepath: root-ca.pem
    searchguard.authcz.admin_dn:
      - CN=kirk,OU=client,O=client,L=test, C=de

(of course you need to adapt it to the certificates you are actually using).

For Kibana it depends on what Authentication modules you are using on Search Guard. For HTTP Basic Authentication you can have a look at the sample configuration in the docs:

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