Delegate mTLS support

mTLS is part of the TLS protocol, which allows the server to verify the authenticity of the client. To achieve that, the client has to provide a client certificate during the TLS handshake, which is verified by the server using a previously configured CA certificate.

Due to security reasons, every customer must create their own CA certificate and signed client certificates, and Harness hosts a dedicated mTLS endpoint (subdomain) for every account that has mTLS enabled.

Harness supports the following mTLS modes:

LOOSE: Both non-mTLS and mTLS delegates are accepted.
STRICT: Only mTLS delegates are accepted. Any non-mTLS delegates are blocked.

note

mTLS is an advanced feature. Contact Harness Support to enable it.

Create a CA certificate and a client certificate

Harness does not create or distribute the CA and client certificates that are used for mTLS. You must set up the certificates and explicitly provide them to the delegate by mounting a Kubernetes secret.

Important note

Project-level certificates are not supported for mTLS delegates.

In the following examples, OpenSSL is used to create the required certificates. For the Subject, use the text of your choice. It does not have to match the mTLS DNS name or contain harness.io.

Create a CA certificate

Use the following OpenSSL comment to create a test CA certificate with no password and 25+ years of validity. You must provide the public portion of the CA certificate (ca.crt) to Harness to enable mTLS.
openssl req -x509 -sha256 -nodes -days 9999 -newkey rsa:2048 \ -subj "/O=Example ORG/CN=CA Cert" -keyout "ca.key" -out "ca.crt"

Create a client certificate

Create the configuration used to create the client certificate:

 cat << EOF > "client.cnf"
 [req]
 default_bits = 2048
 prompt = no
 default_md = sha256
 x509_extensions = v3_req
 distinguished_name = dn
 
 [dn]
 O = Example ORG
 CN = Client

 [v3_req]
 # empty
 EOF

After the configuration file has been created, create a new certificate signing request together with the key pair:
openssl req -new -config "client.cnf" -nodes -out "client.csr" -keyout "client.key"
Using the previously created CA certificate with the certificate signing request, create the final signed client certificate:
openssl x509 -req -sha256 -days 9999 -extfile client.cnf -extensions v3_req \ -CAcreateserial -CA "ca.crt" -CAkey "ca.key" \ -in "client.csr" -out "client.crt"
note
You provide the client.crt and client.key to the delegate YAML when you install the delegate.
After you create the certificates, provide the public cert of the CA certificate to Harness support.
Provide a unique API prefix to the location where your mTLS endpoint is hosted. You can set any prefix for your directory path, but it must be unique.
note
After this, Harness will perform the steps to enable the mTLS.

Move delegates to mTLS

You can move existing delegates with an immutable image type (image tag yy.mm.xxxxx) to mTLS.

Prerequisites for delegate migration

Before you migrate an existing delegate to an mTLS-enabled delegate, make sure that you meet the following prerequisites.

The delegate must have an immutable image type (image tag yy.mm.xxxxx). For information on delegate types, go to Delegate image types.
You must have access to the delegate YAML.

Migrate a delegate to an mTLS-enabled delegate

To migrate an existing delegate for mTLS support, you must update the delegate YAML. For an example Kubernetes manifest, go to Sample Kubernetes manifest.

To migrate a delegate for mTLS support, do the following:

In your delegate YAML, add the client.crt and client.key fields before the Deployment section.

 
  ---

 apiVersion: v1
 kind: Secret
 metadata:
   name: PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME-account-token
   namespace: harness-delegate-ng
 type: Opaque
 data:
   # Replace the values below with base64 encoded PEM files or mount an existing secret.
   client.crt: "{CERT}"
   client.key: "{KEY}"
 
 ---

In the Deployment section, update the name: value from MANAGER_HOST_AND_PORT to https://<YOUR_FQDN>.agent.harness.io.
Update the LOG_STREAMING_SERVICE_URL value to https://<YOUR_FQDN>.agent.harness.io/log-service/

Add the two environment variables below.

- name: DELEGATE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_PATH
  value: "/etc/mtls/client.crt"
- name: DELEGATE_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_KEY_PATH
  value: "/etc/mtls/client.key"

Add the volumeMounts and volumes sections under containers.

   volumeMounts:
   - name: client-certificate
     mountPath: /etc/mtls
     readOnly: true
     value: "/etc/mtls/client.crt"
volumes:
- name: client-certificate
  secret:
    secretName: kubernetes-delegate-client-certificate

Add the client certificate and key section in the ConfigMap upgrader-config, then add your managerHost and port.

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME-upgrader-config
  namespace: harness-delegate-ng
data:
  config.yaml: |
    mode: Delegate
    dryRun: false
    workloadName: PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME
    namespace: harness-delegate-ng
    containerName: delegate
    clientCertificateFilePath: /etc/mtls/client.crt
    clientCertificateKeyFilePath: /etc/mtls/client.key
    delegateConfig:
      accountId: PUT_YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID
      managerHost: PUT_YOUR_MANAGER_ENDPOINT
---

In the CronJob section, add your certificate volumes and volumeMount.

---

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  labels:
    harness.io/name: upgrader-job
  name: PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME-upgrader-job
  namespace: harness-delegate-ng
spec:
  schedule: "0 */1 * * *"
  concurrencyPolicy: Forbid
  startingDeadlineSeconds: 20
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          serviceAccountName: upgrader-cronjob-sa
          restartPolicy: Never
          containers:
          - image: harness/upgrader:latest
            name: upgrader
            imagePullPolicy: Always
            envFrom:
            - secretRef:
                name: PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME-upgrader-token
            volumeMounts:
              - name: config-volume
                mountPath: /etc/config
              - name: client-certificate
                mountPath: /etc/mtls
                readOnly: true
          volumes:
            - name: config-volume
              configMap:
                name: PUT_YOUR_DELEGATE_NAME-upgrader-config
            - name: config-certificate
              secret:
                secretName: kubernetes-delegate-client-certificate

Save and deploy the manifest.

Create a CA certificate and a client certificate​

Create a CA certificate​

Create a client certificate​

Move delegates to mTLS​

Prerequisites for delegate migration​

Migrate a delegate to an mTLS-enabled delegate​