Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

RBAC allows you to define roles with specific permissions and assign these roles to users and API keys.

Step 1: Define Roles

Create roles that define specific permissions using the Kibana UI or the REST API.

Using Kibana

• Open Kibana and go to Management > Security > Roles.
• Click Create role.
• Define the role name and permissions (e.g., read access to specific indices).

Using the REST API

Alternatively, create a role using the REST API:

curl -u my_user:mypassword -X PUT "localhost:9200/_security/role/my_role" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
  "cluster": ["all"],
  "indices": [
    {
      "names": ["myindex"],
      "privileges": ["read"]
    }
  ]
}'

Step 2: Assign Roles to Users

Assign the created role to a user using the Kibana UI or the REST API.

Using Kibana

• Open Kibana and go to Management > Security > Users.
• Edit the user and assign the role.

Using the REST API

Assign a role to a user using the REST API:

curl -u my_user:mypassword -X POST "localhost:9200/_security/user/my_user/_roles" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
  "roles": ["my_role"]
}'

Step 3: Authenticate API Requests

Authenticated API requests will now have access based on the assigned roles.

Example: Querying an Index with Role-Based Permissions

curl -u my_user:mypassword -X GET "localhost:9200/myindex/_search" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d'
{
  "query": {
    "match_all": {}
  }
}'

Output

The response will include documents from the myindex index:

{
  "took": 10,
  "timed_out": false,
  "_shards": {
    "total": 1,
    "successful": 1,
    "skipped": 0,
    "failed": 0
  },
  "hits": {
    "total": {
      "value": 1,
      "relation": "eq"
    },
    "max_score": 1.0,
    "hits": [
      {
        "_index": "myindex",
        "_id": "1",
        "_score": 1.0,
        "_source": {
          "name": "Jane Doe",
          "age": 25,
          "city": "San Francisco"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Elasticsearch is a powerful distributed search and analytics engine widely used for logging, monitoring, and data analysis. To protect your data and ensure secure access, setting up API authentication is essential.

This article will guide you through the process of configuring Elasticsearch API authentication with detailed examples and outputs. We will cover basic authentication, API keys, and role-based access control (RBAC).