SSL

The Anaconda Enterprise Notebooks (AEN) Server uses nginx to proxy all incoming http(s) requests to the Server running on a local port. Also, nginx is used for SSL termination. The default setup uses http (non-SSL) since cert files are required to configure SSL and each Enterprise will have their own cert files.

SSL certs with passphrases are not currently supported.

The www.enterprise.conf file is the default nginx .conf file used for Anaconda Enterprise Notebooks. It is copied to the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory during Server install.

Configure SSL on the Server

The www.enterprise.https.conf is a nginx configuration file for SSL configurations. It is setup to use cert files called server.crt and server.key but these value must be changed to point to signed cert files for your domain. NOTE: self-signed certs or certs signed by a private root CA require additional configuration

Perform the following steps as root:

  1. Stop Nginx: service nginx stop

  2. Move the /etc/nginx/conf.d/www.enterprise.conf file to a backup directory.

  3. Copy the /opt/wakari/wakari-server/lib/python2.7/site-packages/

    wk_server/config/www.enterprise.https.conf file to /etc/nginx/conf.d

  4. Copy the cert and key files to /etc/nginx

  5. Edit the /etc/nginx/conf.d/www.enterprise.https.conf file and change the server.crt and server.key values to the names of the real cert and key files.

  6. Start nginx: service nginx start

  7. Update the WAKARI_SERVER and CDN settings in the config files to use https instead of http. The config files that need to be changed are:

    /opt/wakari/wakari-server/etc/wakari/config.json
    /opt/wakari/wakari-gateway/etc/wakari/wk-gateway-config.json
    /opt/wakari/wakari-compute/etc/wakari/config.json
    
  8. Restart Anaconda Enterprise Notebooks services on each of the nodes with the appropriate command for the service, Server, Gateway, or Compute:

    service wakari-server restart
    service wakari-gateway restart
    service wakari-compute restart
    
  9. Browse to Anaconda Enterprise Notebooks and verify that the browser uses https.

Configure SSL on the Gateway

Modify the configuration file /opt/wakari/wakari-gateway/etc/wakari/wk-gateway-config.json and add:

{
    EXISTING_CONFIGURATION,
    "https": {
        "key": "/path/to/certs/server.key",
        "cert": "/path/to/certs/server.crt"
    }
}

Restart the Gateway: sudo service wakari-gateway restart

SSL on Compute Nodes

Anaconda Enterprise does not provide for SSL on the compute nodes directly. We recommend installing the Compute on the same machine as the Gateway and using http://localhost:5002 for the URL value while adding it as a resource.

You would need a Gateway for each and every Compute node.

Security Reminder

The permissions on the cert files need to set correctly to prevent them from being read by others. Only the root user needs to be able to read the cert files since nginx is run by root.

Assuming the cert files are called server.crt and server.key, use the root account to set the permissions as follows:

chmod 600 server.key
chmod 600 server.crt

Strict Transport Security Header

Strict-Transport-Security is enabled by default in the www.enterprise.https.conf file.

add_header Strict-Transport-Security max-age=31536000;

It can remain enabled if either of the following is true.

  1. The Gateway is running on a different host than the Server; or
  2. SSL has been enabled for the Gateway

It is necessary that you comment out this line if both of the following conditions are true:

  1. The Gateway is running on the same host as the Server; and
  2. SSL has not been enabled for the Gateway

Leaving it enabled when these conditions are true will cause a mismatch in protocols between the Server and Gateway and apps will fail to launch correctly.

Using private root CA or self-signed certs

If you configure the Gateway to use SSL certificates that are self-signed or are signed by a private CA root you must do the following things on the Server.

Copy the certificate chain used to sign the SSL cert on Gateway to the Server

Add the following line to /opt/wakari/wakari-server/etc/wakari/wk-server-config.json on the Server

"verify_gateway_certificate": "/path/to/gateway/cert/file"

Be sure to include a comma at the end of the line before this one (or at the end of this line if it is the first).

This will allow for the Server to verify that the certificate presented by the Gateway is a valid certificate

If you configure SSL on the Server using self-signed or private certificates, you must manually register the Gateway with the server. This is done through the Admin web interface.

Using the ca entry for SSL certs from the AEN Server - AEN Gateway as a client

AEN handle a single certificate file (most likely a self-signed cert) and multiple certificate files in the ca entry.

Modify the configuration file /opt/wakari/wakari-gateway/etc/wakari/wk-gateway-config.json and add:

{
  EXISTING_CONFIGURATION,
  "https": {
      EXISTING_CONFIGURATION,
      "ca": ["/path/to/certs/ca1", "/path/to/certs/ca2"]
  }
}

Note: AEN doesn’t handle a single cert file with multiple certificates in it.