Configuring a Cassandra cluster for external encryption

Establish a secure channel for data transfers between Pega client machines and a Cassandra cluster by using client-to-server encryption.

1. In the prconfig.xml file, enable node-to-node encryption by setting the dnode/cassandra_client_encryption property to true.
   For more information about the prconfig.xml file, see Changing node settings by modifying the prconfig.xml file and Downloading a prconfig configuration file for a node.
   If you enable client-to-server encryption without updating the settings, the values of the corresponding node-to-node encryption properties are used for the missing client settings. In that case, configure node-to-node encryption regardless for all nodes, not only DDS. For more information, see Configuring a Cassandra cluster for internal encryption.
2. Configure the remaining prconfig.xml settings.
   For more information about the prconfig.xml properties for client-to-server encryption, see Prconfig properties for Cassandra cluster encryption.
3. In the cassandra.yaml file, add the following configuration:
   • For client-to-server encryption, add:

     client_encryption_options: {
     keystore_password: cassandra,
     require_client_auth: 'true',
     truststore_password: cassandra,
     keystore: /path/keystore.shared,
     truststore: /path/truststore.shared,
     store_type: JKS,
     enabled: 'true',
     algorithm: SunX509}

   • For Cassandra node-to-node encryption, add:

     server_encryption_options: {
     keystore_password: cassandra,
     require_client_auth: 'true',
     internode_encryption: all,
     truststore_password: cassandra,
     keystore: /path/keystore.shared,
     truststore: /path/truststore.shared,
     store_type: JKS}

4. Create Java keystores and truststores along with SSL certificates.
   For more information, see Creating Java keystores and truststores for Cassandra encryption.

   Note: If you do not create separate Java keystores and truststores for external encryption, Cassandra uses the keystores and trustores that you specified for internal encryption.
5. Copy the keystore.shared and truststore.shared files to the external Cassandra directory.
6. In the prconfig.xml and cassandra.yaml files, update the configuration with the file paths and passwords to the certificates.
7. Restart Pega Platform for the changes to take effect.