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.

   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.

• Configuring a Cassandra cluster for internal encryption

  Protect data that is transferred internally between Decision Data Store (DDS) nodes by using node-to-node encryption.

• Configuring compaction settings for SSTables

  Maintain the good health of the Cassandra cluster by tuning compaction throughput for write-intensive workloads.

• Prconfig properties for Cassandra cluster encryption

  Secure the data transfer between Cassandra nodes and between the client machines and the Cassandra cluster by customizing the prconfig.xml file properties.

• Creating Java keystores and truststores for Cassandra encryption

  Enable internal and external Cassandra encryption by creating Java keystores and truststores along with SSL certificates.

• Configuring a Cassandra cluster for internal encryption

  Protect data that is transferred internally between Decision Data Store (DDS) nodes by using node-to-node encryption.

• Configuring the Cassandra cluster

  Pega Platform comes with an internal Cassandra cluster to which you can connect through a Decision Data Store data set. Before connecting to the cluster through Pega Platform, perform the following steps to achieve optimal performance and data consistency across the nodes in the cluster.