DataSource Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) configuration

These DataSource configuration items enable you to set up secure communication between DataSource peers using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) of TCP/IP.

C-based DataSource applications implement SSL using the OpenSSL Toolkit. (https://www.openssl.org/), and the security certificate and private key are kept in separate PEM files (see datasrc-ssl-certificate and datasrc-ssl-privatekey).

Java-based DataSource applications use the Java Cryptography APIs, and a Java KeyStore (JKS) to hold the security certificate, private key and public key (see datasrc-ssl-keystore). The KeyStore can be accessed using an alias (see datasrc-ssl-certificate).

Applicability

This version of the DataSource SSL configuration is available in release 6.2 and later of the following APIs and Caplin Platform components:

  • C DataSource API

  • Caplin Integration Suite

  • Liberator

  • Transformer

Older versions of these APIs and components use an earlier, incompatible version of the configuration. For details, see section 12.8 "Direct connections using SSL" in the Liberator 6.0 Administration Guide.

Configuration items

Here’s a list of all the SSL configuration items; to get more detail, just click on the item you’re interested in.

"this DataSource application" means the DataSource application for which you are defining the configuration. "DataSource peer" or "peer" means a DataSource application that this DataSource application communicates with.

datasrc-ssl-enable

datasrc-ssl-enable specifies when TRUE that this DataSource application accepts incoming SSL connections from peers.

If you set it to TRUE, make sure you also specify the following items in the configuration:

Use in: C, Java

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-enable <boolean>

Type: boolean

Default value: FALSE (incoming SSL connections not accepted)

If this DataSource application initiates the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection to a peer, set the ssl option of the add-peer entry for the connection to TRUE, and set the other SSL related options of the add-peer as required.

datasrc-ssl-certificate

datasrc-ssl-certificate specifies the path to and filename of the certificate that this DataSource application sends to the client when the client requests the server’s (DataSource application’s) certificate for the SSL handshake.

This configuration item is required if datasrc-ssl-enable is set to TRUE.

Use this configuration item in a DataSource application that acts as an SSL server (that is, it accepts incoming SSL connections from peers).

  • In C-based applications datasrc-ssl-certificate is the path to and filename of the certificate file in PEM format.

  • In Java-based applications, it specifies the alias for a certificate held in the Java KeyStore file specified by datasrc-ssl-keystore.

The directory path can contain the parameters %r and %a At run time, %r is replaced by the root directory (application-root) under which this DataSource application runs, and %a is replaced by the DataSource application-name.

The DataSource Application won’t start if SSL is enabled (see datasrc-ssl-enable) and datasrc-ssl-certificate doesn’t point to a valid certificate.

Use in: C, Java

Syntax:

C DataSource applications
datasrc-ssl-certificate <path-to-ssl-certificate-pem-file>
Java DataSource applications
datasrc-ssl-certificate <ssl-certificate-alias-in-java-keystore>

Type: string

Default value: none

If this DataSource application initiates the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection to a peer, set the ssl-present-certificate option of the add-peer entry for the connection.

datasrc-ssl-cipherlist

datasrc-ssl-cipherlist specifes a colon separated list of cipher strings. These cipher strings select, in preferred order, the various SSL ciphers (cryptographic algorithms) that the DataSource application can use for its secure connections.

In C-based DataSource applications, the ciphers are selected from the set available in the version of OpenSSL built into the DataSource application. The format of the cipher list is as defined for the cipherlist argument of the OpenSSL ciphers tool; for details see the OpenSSL 1.0.2 ciphers(1) manual page, which includes a list of the available cipher suite names. At run time, the DataSource application passes the cipher list as a control string to the OpenSSL 1.0.2 function SSL_CTX_set_cipher_list(); this function uses the control string to set up the list of available SSL ciphers.

For Java-based DataSource applications, built under Java Platform Standard Edition 7, there’s information about the available ciphers at http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/SunProviders.html

For an SSL connection to be established between two DataSource applications, the application that is the SSL client must have in its datasrc-ssl-cipherlist the SSL cipher that the SSL server application wishes to use.

This item is overridden for a specific peer connection by the ssl-cipherlist option of add-peer.

Use in: C, Java

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-cipherlist <cipher>:<cipher>:<cipher>…​

Type: string

Default value:

  • C-based applications: DEFAULT (The default list of OpenSSL ciphers. This varies according to the version of OpenSSL built into the DataSource application.)

  • Java-based applications: The cipher returned by the getDefaultAlgorithm() method of the javax.net.ssl package’s KeyManagerFactory class (see KeyManagerFactory). Which particular cipher is returned depends on the version of Java you’ve installed.

Example:

datasrc-ssl-cipherlist HIGH:MEDIUM

datasrc-ssl-keystore

datasrc-ssl-keystore specifies the path to and filename of the Java KeyStore (JKS). The KeyStore contains the SSL certificate that this DataSource presents to connecting peers, copies of certificates used for certificate pinning, and the SSL private key used to decrypt the symmetric session key received from a DataSource peer. The KeyStore must be in Java JKS Format.

For more about certificate pinning, see the Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_pinning#Certificate_pinning

The directory path can contain the parameters %r and %a At run time, %r is replaced by the root directory (application-root) under which this DataSource application runs, and %a is replaced by the DataSource application-name.

Use in: Java

In C-based DataSource applications (including Liberator and Transformer) use datasrc-ssl-certificate and datasrc-ssl-privatekey.

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-keystore <keystore-file-path-and-name>

Type: string

Default value: [none]

The Java DataSource application will throw an exception if SSL is enabled (datasrc-ssl-enable is TRUE) and you haven’t specified a Java KeyStore.

datasrc-ssl-passwordfile

datasrc-ssl-passwordfile specifies the path to and filename of a password file containing a plain text (unencrypted) password used to access private key files, certificate files and KeyStores.

In a C-based DataSource application, the password provides access to the password-protected private key file that’s defined by datasrc-ssl-privatekey and access to the certificate file that’s paired with this private key. (Also see the ssl-passwordfile option of add-peer.)

In a Java-based DataSource application, the password provides access to the Java KeyStore defined by datasrc-ssl-keystore, and hence to the private key/certificate pairs that are held inside the KeyStore.

We strongly recommend that you password protect your private key files, certificate files and Java KeyStores.

Use in: C, Java

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-passwordfile <password-file-path-and-name>

Type: string

Default value: [none]

If the KeyStore or private key file requires a password to access it and datasrc-ssl-passwordfile isn’t defined, the DataSource application exits in error.

datasrc-ssl-privatekey

datasrc-ssl-privatekey specifies the path to and filename of the SSL private key that this DataSource application uses to decrypt the symmetric session key received from a DataSource peer. The file must be in PEM format.

Use this configuration item in a C-based DataSource application that acts as an SSL server (that is, it accepts incoming SSL connections from peers).

The directory path can contain the parameters %r and %a At run time, %r is replaced by the root directory (application-root) under which this DataSource application runs, and %a is replaced by the DataSource application-name.

Use in: C

In Java-based DataSource applications usedatasrc-ssl-keystore.

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-privatekey <PEM-file-path-and-name>

Type: string

Default value: [none] In a C-based Datasource application, if SSL is enabled (datasrc-ssl-enable is TRUE), you must specify a datasrc-ssl-privatekey.

If this DataSource application initiates the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection to a peer, set the ssl-privatekey option of the add-peer entry for the connection.

datasrc-ssl-ssloptions

datasrc-ssl-ssloptions specifies the levels of the SSL protocol that are supported for SSL connections used by this DataSource application.

Use in: C, Java

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-ssloptions <supported-SSL-levels>

Type: string

Default value:

  • C-based applications: SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2

  • Java-based applications: TLS

Values accepted:

For C-based DataSource applications:

Value Meaning

SSL_OP_ALL

All SSL protocol levels are supported.

SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3

The SSLv3 protocol is not supported.

SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2

The SSLv2 protocol is not supported.

SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1

The SSLv1 protocol is not supported.

You can specify multiple values using the | operator, as in this example:

https-ssl-options SSL_OP_NO_TLSV1|SSL_OP_NO_SSLV2

SSL_OP_NO_TLSV1|SSL_OP_NO_SSLV2 means that all protocol levels are supported except SSLv1 and SSLv2

For Java-based DataSource applications (built under Java Platform Standard Edition 7), see the Protocols section of http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/SunProviders.html

datasrc-sslport

datasrc-sslport specifies the network port to listen on for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection requests from DataSource peers. The default of 0 means that no SSL connections can be made to this DataSource application.

Use in: C, Java

Syntax: datasrc-sslport <SSL-port-number>

Type: integer

Default value: 0 (No SSL connections can be made.)

ssl-config-name

ssl-config-name specifies the path to and filename of the OpenSSL configuration file that’s loaded by this DataSource application. One use for such a file is to allow the application access to a global trust store.

Use in: C

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-config-name <openssl-config-file-path-and-name>

Type: string

Default value: NULL (no file provided)

ssl-debug

ssl-debug enables SSL debugging. The SSL handshake details are written to stderr and, from Platform 6.2 onwards, as DEBUG level entries in this DataSource application’s event log.

Use in: C

Syntax: datasrc-ssl-debug <boolean>

Type: boolean

Default value: FALSE

ssl-engine-flags

ssl-engine-flags specifies the OpenSSL engine flags that are to be passed to the ENGINE implementation at run time.

Use in: C

Syntax: ssl-engine-flags flag1|flag2|flag3|…​

Type: string

Default value: [ENGINE use is disabled]

Values accepted:

Flag Description

dh

Limit engine usage to DH operations only

dsa

Limit engine usage to DSA operations only

rand

Limit engine usage to random operations only

rsa

Limit engine usage to RSA operations only

all

Allow OpenSSL to use any of the above operations

Use the | operator to specify multiple flag values. For example, to allow the engine to use both dsa and rsa operations, specify:

ssl-engine-flags dsa|rsa

ssl-engine-id

ssl-engine-id specifies the OpenSSL ENGINE cryptographic module to be used. OpenSSL has built-in support for cryptographic acceleration. An application can get a reference to a specific representation, often a hardware device. These representations are referred to as ENGINES.

The default value of openssl, or the value software, prevent the DataSource application from attempting to use an SSL card. If you set the value all, the application attempts to find and use any SSL cards available on the machine. Any other value is considered to represent a specific SSL card - please refer to the OpenSSL documentation for a full list of what’s supported.

Use in: C

Syntax: ssl-engine-id <ENGINE-module-name>

Type: string

Default value: Openssl (The engine uses the normal built-in Open SSL software functions rather than a hardware device.)

ssl-random-seed

ssl-random-seed specifies the seeding of the OpenSSL random number generator that’s used for DataSource SSL connections, for Liberator HTTPS connections and secure direct connections from clients, and for generating Liberator session IDs.

Use in: C

Syntax: ssl-random-seed <type> <arg1> <arg2>

Where <type> is the type of random number generation required, as follows:

<type> Description

builtin

Uses various system commands to produce random

output. <arg1> and <arg2> aren’t required.

file

Uses the first <arg2> bytes of the data in the file <arg1> to seed the random number generator. The file is assumed to be located relative to the DataSource application’s root directory.

exec

Uses the first <arg2> bytes of the output from the command specified in <arg1> to seed the random number generator. The command is assumed to be located relative to the DataSource application’s root directory.

Type: string

Default value: On Linux, OpenSSL is seeded by a hardware device so ssl-random-seed defaults to this.

Examples

ssl-random-seed builtin
ssl-random-seed file etc/randomdata
ssl-random-seed file etc/randomdata 1024
ssl-random-seed exec etc/random.sh
ssl-random-seed exec etc/random.sh 512

See also: