While authentication limits which clients can connect, TLS can be used to encrypt traffic between client/server and check the server’s identity. Additionally - in the most secure version of TLS with NATS - the server can be configured to verify the client's identity, thus authenticating it. When started in TLS mode, a nats-server will require all clients to connect with TLS. Moreover, if configured to connect with TLS, client libraries will fail to connect to a server without TLS.
Connecting with TLS and verify client identity
Using TLS to connect to a server that verifies the client's identity is straightforward. The client has to provide a certificate and private key. The NATS client will use these to prove it's identity to the server. For the client to verify the server's identity, the CA certificate is provided as well.
nc, err := nats.Connect("localhost", nats.ClientCert("client-cert.pem", "client-key.pem"), nats.RootCAs("rootCA.pem"))if err !=nil { log.Fatal(err)}defer nc.Close()// Do something with the connection
// This examples requires certificates to be in the java keystore format (.jks).// To do so openssl is used to generate a pkcs12 file (.p12) from client-cert.pem and client-key.pem.// The resulting file is then imported int a java keystore named keystore.jks using keytool which is part of java jdk.// keytool is also used to import the CA certificate rootCA.pem into truststore.jks. // // openssl pkcs12 -export -out keystore.p12 -inkey client-key.pem -in client-cert.pem -password pass:password// keytool -importkeystore -srcstoretype PKCS12 -srckeystore keystore.p12 -srcstorepass password -destkeystore keystore.jks -deststorepass password
//// keytool -importcert -trustcacerts -file rootCA.pem -storepass password -noprompt -keystore truststore.jksclassSSLUtils {publicstaticString KEYSTORE_PATH ="keystore.jks";publicstaticString TRUSTSTORE_PATH ="truststore.jks";publicstaticString STORE_PASSWORD ="password";publicstaticString KEY_PASSWORD ="password";publicstaticString ALGORITHM ="SunX509";publicstaticKeyStoreloadKeystore(String path) throwsException {KeyStore store =KeyStore.getInstance("JKS");BufferedInputStream in =newBufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(path));try {store.load(in,STORE_PASSWORD.toCharArray()); } finally {if (in !=null) {in.close(); } }return store; }publicstaticKeyManager[] createTestKeyManagers() throwsException {KeyStore store =loadKeystore(KEYSTORE_PATH);KeyManagerFactory factory =KeyManagerFactory.getInstance(ALGORITHM);factory.init(store,KEY_PASSWORD.toCharArray());returnfactory.getKeyManagers(); }publicstaticTrustManager[] createTestTrustManagers() throwsException {KeyStore store =loadKeystore(TRUSTSTORE_PATH);TrustManagerFactory factory =TrustManagerFactory.getInstance(ALGORITHM);factory.init(store);returnfactory.getTrustManagers(); }publicstaticSSLContextcreateSSLContext() throwsException {SSLContext ctx =SSLContext.getInstance(Options.DEFAULT_SSL_PROTOCOL);ctx.init(createTestKeyManagers(),createTestTrustManagers(),newSecureRandom());return ctx; }}publicclassConnectTLS {publicstaticvoidmain(String[] args) {try {SSLContext ctx =SSLUtils.createSSLContext();Options options =new Options.Builder().server("nats://localhost:4222").sslContext(ctx).// Set the SSL contextbuild();Connection nc =Nats.connect(options);// Do something with the connectionnc.close(); } catch (Exception e) {e.printStackTrace(); } }}
// tls options available depend on the javascript// runtime, please verify the readme for the// client you are using for specific details// this example showing the node libraryconstnc=awaitconnect({ port:ns.port, debug:true, tls: { caFile: caCertPath, keyFile: clientKeyPath, certFile: clientCertPath, },});
nc =NATS()ssl_ctx = ssl.create_default_context(purpose=ssl.Purpose.SERVER_AUTH)ssl_ctx.load_verify_locations('rootCA.pem')ssl_ctx.load_cert_chain(certfile='client-cert.pem', keyfile='client-key.pem')await nc.connect(io_loop=loop, tls=ssl_ctx)await nc.connect(servers=["nats://demo.nats.io:4222"], tls=ssl_ctx)# Do something with the connection.
EM.run do options = { :servers => ['nats://localhost:4222', ], :tls => { :private_key_file =>'client-key.pem', :cert_chain_file =>'client-cert.pem', :ca_file =>'rootCA.pem' } }NATS.connect(options) do|nc|puts"#{Time.now.to_f} - Connected to NATS at #{nc.connected_server}" nc.subscribe("hello") do|msg|puts"#{Time.now.to_f} - Received: #{msg}"end nc.flush do nc.publish("hello","world")endEM.add_periodic_timer(0.1) donextunless nc.connected? nc.publish("hello","hello")end# Set default callbacks nc.on_error do|e|puts"#{Time.now.to_f } - Error: #{e}"end nc.on_disconnect do|reason|puts"#{Time.now.to_f} - Disconnected: #{reason}"end nc.on_reconnect do|nc|puts"#{Time.now.to_f} - Reconnected to NATS server at #{nc.connected_server}"end nc.on_close doputs"#{Time.now.to_f} - Connection to NATS closed"EM.stopendendend
natsConnection *conn =NULL;natsOptions *opts =NULL;natsStatus s = NATS_OK;s =natsOptions_Create(&opts);if (s == NATS_OK) s =natsOptions_LoadCertificatesChain(opts,"client-cert.pem","client-key.pem");if (s == NATS_OK) s =natsOptions_LoadCATrustedCertificates(opts,"rootCA.pem");if (s == NATS_OK) s =natsConnection_Connect(&conn, opts);(...)// Destroy objects that were creatednatsConnection_Destroy(conn);natsOptions_Destroy(opts);
Connecting with the TLS Protocol
Clients (such as Go, Java, Javascript, Ruby and Type Script) support providing a URL containing the tls protocol to the NATS connect call. This will turn on TLS without the need for further code changes. However, in that case there is likely some form of default or environmental settings to allow the TLS libraries of your programming language to find certificate and trusted CAs. Unless these settings are taken into accounts or otherwise modified, this way of connecting is very likely to fail.