Network Authorization

To prevent denial-of-service and brute force password attacks, CockroachDB Dedicated requires you to authorize networks that can access your cluster by allowlisting the public IP addresses for your application. Optionally, you can set up Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) peering or AWS PrivateLink for your cluster for enhanced network security and lower network latency.

IP allowlisting

Authorize your application server’s network and your local machine’s network by adding their public IP addresses (in the CIDR format) to the CockroachDB Dedicated cluster's allowlist. If you change your location, you will need to authorize the new location’s network, else the connection from that network will be rejected.

• In a development environment, you need to authorize your application server’s network and your local machine’s network. If you change your location, you need to authorize the new location’s network, or else the connection from that network will be rejected.
• In a production environment, you need to authorize your application server’s network.

You can add up to 20 IP addresses to your allowlist. If your application servers’ IP addresses are not static, or you want to limit your cluster's exposure to the public network, you can connect to your CockroachDB Dedicated clusters using VPC Peering or AWS PrivateLink instead.

VPC peering

If you select GCP as your cloud provider while creating your CockroachDB Dedicated cluster, you can use Google Cloud's VPC Network Peering feature to connect your GCP application directly to your CockroachDB Dedicated cluster using internal IP addresses, thus limiting exposure to the public network and reducing network latency.

GKE users should note that we recommend deploying your application to a VPC-native cluster that uses alias IP addresses. If you are connecting from a routes-based GKE cluster instead, you will have to export custom routes. CockroachDB Cloud will import your custom routes by default.

Setting up a VPC peering connection between your CockroachDB Dedicated cluster and GCP application is a two-part process:

1. Configure the IP range and size while creating the CockroachDB Dedicated cluster
2. Establish a VPC Peering connection after creating the cluster

AWS PrivateLink

If your cloud provider is AWS, you can use AWS PrivateLink to securely connect your AWS application with your CockroachDB Dedicated cluster using a private endpoint. Like VPC Peering, a PrivateLink connection will prevent your traffic from being exposed to the public internet and reduce network latency. If you have multiple clusters, you will have to repeat these steps for each cluster that you want to connect to using AWS PrivateLink.

There are four steps to setting up an AWS PrivateLink connection between your CockroachDB Dedicated cluster and AWS application:

1. Set up a cluster
2. Create an AWS endpoint
3. Verify the endpoint ID
4. Enable private DNS

Set up a cluster

1. Use the CockroachDB Cloud Console to create your CockroachDB Dedicated cluster on AWS in the same region as your application.

   Note:

   If you have a multi-region cluster, you will have to create a PrivateLink connection for each region you are operating in.

2. Navigate to the Networking page.

3. Select the PrivateLink tab.

4. Click Set up a PrivateLink connection to open the connection modal.

Create an AWS endpoint

1. If you have a multi-region cluster, select the region to create a connection in. Skip this step if you have a single-region cluster.
2. Copy the Service Name shown in the connection modal.
3. On the Amazon VPC Console, click Your VPCs in the sidebar.

4. Locate the VPC ID of the VPC you want to create your endpoint in.

   This will probably be the same VPC as the VPC your EC2 instances and application are running in. You can also choose a different VPC as long as it is peered to the VPC your application is running in.

5. On the Your VPCs page, locate the IPv4 CIDR corresponding to the VPC you chose in Step 4.

6. Click Subnets in the sidebar.

7. Locate the subnet IDs corresponding to the VPC you chose in Step 4.

8. Click Security Groups in the sidebar.

9. Click Create security group to create a security group within your VPC that allows inbound access from your EC2 instances on Port 26257:

   • In the Security group name field, enter a name for the security group.
   • In the Description field, enter a description for the security group.
   • From the VPC dropdown, select the VPC you chose in Step 4.
   • In the Inbound rules section, click Add rule. Enter 26257 in the Port range field. In the Source field, enter the CIDR range from Step 5.
   • Click Create security group.

Use either the Amazon VPC Console or the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) to continue:

1. Click Endpoints in the sidebar.
2. Click Create Endpoint.
3. On the Create Endpoint page, for the Service Category field, select Find service by name.
4. In the Service Name field, enter the Service Name copied from the connection modal in Step 1.
5. Click Verify.
6. In the VPC field, enter the ID of the VPC you want to create your endpoint in.
7. Verify that the subnets are pre-populated.
8. In the Security group section, select the security group you created in Step 8 and uncheck the box for default security group.

9. Click Create Endpoint.

   The VPC Endpoint ID displays.

10. Copy the Endpoint ID to your clipboard and return to CockroachDB Cloud's Add PrivateLink modal.

1. Substitute the values from the previous steps and run the following AWS CLI command:

   $ aws ec2 create-vpc-endpoint --region $REGION \
   --vpc-id $VPC_ID --subnet-ids $SUBNET_ID1 $SUBNET_ID2 \
   --vpc-endpoint-type Interface --security-group-ids \
   $SECURITY_GROUP_ID1 $SECURITY_GROUP_ID2 --service-name \
   $SERVICE_NAME_PROVIDED_BY_COCKROACH
   

2. Locate the VPC Endpoint ID in the CLI output.

3. Copy the Endpoint ID to your clipboard and return to CockroachDB Cloud's Add PrivateLink modal.

Verify the endpoint ID

1. Paste the Endpoint ID you created into the VPC Endpoint ID field.
2. Click Verify.
3. CockroachDB Cloud will accept the endpoint request. You can confirm the request acceptance by checking if the status is listed as Available on the Amazon VPC Console Endpoints page.

Enable private DNS

1. On the Amazon VPC Console Endpoints page, select the endpoint you created.
2. Click Actions.
3. Click Modify Private DNS Names.
4. Check the Enable Private DNS Name checkbox.
5. Click Modify Private DNS Name.

Alternatively, use the AWS CLI to modify the Private DNS Name:

1. After the endpoint status changes to Available, run the following AWS CLI command:

   $ aws ec2 modify-vpc-endpoint --region $REGION \
   --private-dns-enabled --vpc-endpoint-id $VPC_ENDPOINT_ID
   

The endpoint status will change to Pending.

After a short (less than 5 minute) delay, the status will change to Available. You can now connect to your cluster.

See also

• Client Connection Parameters
• Connect to Your CockroachDB Dedicated Cluster