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Run Solr with TLS/SSL (Transport Encryption)
KubeDB supports providing TLS/SSL encryption for Solr. This tutorial will show you how to use KubeDB to run a Solr combined with TLS/SSL encryption.
Before You Begin
At first, you need to have a Kubernetes combined, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your combined. If you do not already have a combined, you can create one by using kind.
Install
cert-mangerv1.0.0 or later to your combined to manage your SSL/TLS certificates.Now, install KubeDB cli on your workstation and KubeDB operator in your combined following the steps here.
To keep things isolated, this tutorial uses a separate namespace called
demothroughout this tutorial.$ kubectl create ns demo namespace/demo created
Note: YAML files used in this tutorial are stored in docs/examples/Solr folder in GitHub repository kubedb/docs.
Overview
KubeDB uses following crd fields to enable SSL/TLS encryption in Solr.
spec:enableSSLtls:issuerRefcertificate
Read about the fields in details in Solr Concept,
tls is applicable for all types of Solr (i.e., combined and combined).
Users must specify the tls.issuerRef field. KubeDB uses the issuer or combinedIssuer referenced in the tls.issuerRef field, and the certificate specs provided in tls.certificate to generate certificate secrets. These certificate secrets are then used to generate required certificates including ca.crt, tls.crt, tls.key, keystore.jks and truststore.jks.
Create Issuer/ combinedIssuer
We are going to create an example Issuer that will be used throughout the duration of this tutorial to enable SSL/TLS in Solr. Alternatively, you can follow this cert-manager tutorial to create your own Issuer.
- Start off by generating you ca certificates using openssl.
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout ./ca.key -out ./ca.crt -subj "/CN=Solr/O=kubedb"
- Now create a ca-secret using the certificate files you have just generated.
kubectl create secret tls solr-ca \
--cert=ca.crt \
--key=ca.key \
--namespace=demo
Now, create an Issuer using the ca-secret you have just created. The YAML file looks like this:
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Issuer
metadata:
name: solr-ca-issuer
namespace: demo
spec:
ca:
secretName: solr-ca
Apply the YAML file:
$ kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2025.1.9/docs/examples/solr/tls/sl-issuer.yaml
issuer.cert-manager.io/solr-ca-issuer created
TLS/SSL encryption in Solr Combined
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: Solr
metadata:
name: solr-combined
namespace: demo
spec:
version: 9.4.1
replicas: 2
enableSSL: true
tls:
issuerRef:
apiGroup: cert-manager.io
name: solr-ca-issuer
kind: Issuer
certificates:
- alias: server
subject:
organizations:
- kubedb:server
dnsNames:
- localhost
ipAddresses:
- "127.0.0.1"
zookeeperRef:
name: zoo
namespace: demo
storage:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
storageClassName: standard
Deploy Solr Combined with TLS/SSL
$ kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2025.1.9/docs/examples/solr/tls/solr-combined.yaml
solr.kubedb.com/solr-combined created
Now, wait until solr-combined created has status Ready. i.e,
$ kubectl get sl -n demo
NAME TYPE VERSION STATUS AGE
solr-combined kubedb.com/v1alpha2 9.4.1 Ready 2m31s
Verify TLS/SSL in Solr Combined
$ kubectl describe secret solr-combined-client-cert -n demo
Name: solr-combined-client-cert
Namespace: demo
Labels: app.kubernetes.io/component=database
app.kubernetes.io/instance=solr-combined
app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=kubedb.com
app.kubernetes.io/name=solrs.kubedb.com
controller.cert-manager.io/fao=true
Annotations: cert-manager.io/alt-names:
*.solr-combined-pods.demo,*.solr-combined-pods.demo.svc.combined.local,localhost,solr-combined,solr-combined-pods,solr-combined-pods.demo.svc,so...
cert-manager.io/certificate-name: solr-combined-client-cert
cert-manager.io/common-name: solr-combined
cert-manager.io/ip-sans: 127.0.0.1
cert-manager.io/issuer-group: cert-manager.io
cert-manager.io/issuer-kind: combinedIssuer
cert-manager.io/issuer-name: self-signed-issuer
cert-manager.io/uri-sans:
Type: kubernetes.io/tls
Data
====
truststore.p12: 1090 bytes
ca.crt: 1147 bytes
keystore.p12: 3511 bytes
tls.crt: 1497 bytes
tls.key: 1679 bytes
Now, Let’s exec into a solr data pod and verify the configuration that the TLS is enabled.
$ kubectl exec -it -n demo solr-combined-data-0 -- bash
Defaulted container "solr" out of: solr, init-solr (init)
solr@solr-combined-data-0:/opt/solr-9.4.1$ env | grep -i SSL
JAVA_OPTS= -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=/var/solr/etc/truststore.p12 -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=QyHKB(dYoT1MQYMu -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore=/var/solr/etc/keystore.p12 -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword=QyHKB(dYoT1MQYMu -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStoreType=PKCS12 -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStoreType=PKCS12
SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE_PASSWORD=QyHKB(dYoT1MQYMu
SOLR_SSL_ENABLED=true
SOLR_SSL_WANT_CLIENT_AUTH=false
SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE_PASSWORD=QyHKB(dYoT1MQYMu
SOLR_SSL_TRUST_STORE=/var/solr/etc/truststore.p12
SOLR_SSL_KEY_STORE=/var/solr/etc/keystore.p12
SOLR_SSL_NEED_CLIENT_AUTH=false
We can see from the above output that, keystore location is /var/solr/etc which means that TLS is enabled.
solr@solr-combined-data-0:/var/solr/etc$ ls
ca.crt keystore.p12 tls.crt tls.key truststore.p12
From the above output, we can see that we are able to connect to the Solr combined using the TLS configuration.
Cleaning up
To clean up the Kubernetes resources created by this tutorial, run:
kubectl delete solr -n demo solr-combined
kubectl delete issuer -n demo solr-ca-issuer
kubectl delete ns demo
Next Steps
- Monitor your Solr combined with KubeDB using out-of-the-box Prometheus operator.
- Monitor your Solr combined with KubeDB using out-of-the-box builtin-Prometheus.
- Detail concepts of Solr object.
- Want to hack on KubeDB? Check our contribution guidelines.