In this section, we will explore how to secure your Elasticsearch cluster by implementing user authentication and authorization. This ensures that only authorized users can access and perform operations on your Elasticsearch data.

1. Authentication: Verifying the identity of a user or system.
2. Authorization: Determining what an authenticated user is allowed to do.
3. Roles: A set of permissions that can be assigned to users.
4. Users: Entities that interact with Elasticsearch, each having a unique identity.

Elasticsearch security features are part of the Elastic Stack's commercial features. To enable these features, you need to configure the elasticsearch.yml file.

Users can be created using the Elasticsearch API or Kibana. Here, we will use the API to create a user.

Roles define the permissions for users. You can create roles using the API.

RBAC is a method of regulating access to computer or network resources based on the roles of individual users within an enterprise.

Roles can be assigned to users when creating the user or by updating an existing user.

You can define custom roles to meet specific needs.

You have a team of data analysts who need read-only access to the Elasticsearch cluster, and a team of administrators who need full access.

1. Create Roles:
   • read_only for data analysts.
   • admin for administrators.

2. Create Users:
   • alice for a data analyst.
   • bob for an administrator.

1. Incorrect Role Assignment: Ensure that roles are correctly assigned to users to avoid unauthorized access.
2. Weak Passwords: Use strong passwords to enhance security.
3. Role Overlap: Avoid overlapping roles that might grant unintended permissions.

1. Create a custom role data_writer that allows write access to the data-* indices.
2. Create a user charlie with the data_writer role.

Solution:

1. Update the user alice to have both read_only and data_writer roles.

Solution:

In this section, we covered the basics of user authentication and authorization in Elasticsearch. We learned how to enable security features, create users and roles, and assign roles to users. These practices are essential for securing your Elasticsearch cluster and ensuring that only authorized users have access to your data.