Secure socket layers (SSL) provide authentication and data security when sending data to and from ThoughtSpot.

You can use your own SSL certificate to secure ThoughtSpot HTTP(S) traffic.

About SSL

To enable SSL for the ThoughtSpot web service, you must provide your organization’s SSL certificate for the ThoughtSpot service URL. If you do not have this certificate, you have the following options:

  • Check with your IT department to see if they have an SSL certificate you can use.
  • Obtain the certificate from an issuing authority.
  • Use the default SSL certificate on the ThoughtSpot nodes.
  • Disable SSL using the tscli ssl off command.

ThoughtSpot supports a wide variety of SSL types.

Required ports

To use ThoughtSpot webservice securely, ensure that TCP port 443 is open to accommodate incoming connections to ThoughtSpot nodes and clusters.

Configure SSL for web traffic

To add SSL and enable HTTPS in ThoughtSpot, generate the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and obtain the SSL certificate chain and the private key.

You can then configure SSL using tscli or through the Admin Console, and then test the SSL certificate.

Certificate Signing Request

When you generate a CSR, you handle sensitive data. Therefore, ThoughtSpot recommends that its customers generate their own CSRs.

You can generate a CSR in several ways. Most often, you generate a CSR and a new private key at the same time. If you already have a private key, use it to generate a CSR.

Follow these steps to generate a CSR and a private key. You need a computer you can run Linux commands on, and a recent version of openssl.

  1. ssh into one of your ThoughtSpot nodes. 
     ssh admin@<node_IP>
  2. Run the command to generate a CSR and private key pair: 
     openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -out csr.pem -keyout pk.key[-subj "/key1=value1/key2=value with space/"]

    Note the following parameters:

    • ThoughtSpot supports a 2048 or 4096 bit key.
    • subj: a common subject. Logically equivalent to the -dname property of keytool. Alternatively, you can skip this flag, and openssl prompts you to enter this information interactively.
    • Optionally, run add-multivalue-rdn to allow multiple values to be set for the same key.
    • Run man req for more details.

If you already have a private key, you can use it to generate a CSR. Follow these steps to generate a CSR with an existing private key:

  1. ssh into one of your ThoughtSpot nodes. 
     ssh admin@<node_IP>
  2. Run the command to generate a CSR and private key pair: 
     openssl req -new -key <private_key_file> -nodes -out csr.pem[-subj "/key1=value1/key2=value with space/"]

    Specify the existing private key file. Refer to the parameters listed above.

SSL certificate chain

The SSL certificate chain must be in PEM format, which is an X.509v3 file that contains ASCII (Base64) armored data, packed between BEGIN and END directives. The certificate chain may contain a series of certificates, with the root certificate at the bottom and user-facing, while the ThoughtSpot-specific SSL certificate is at the top.

Private key

The private key must also be in compatible PEM format. It cannot be password-protected, or passphrase-protected.

If you are prompted to specify a passphrase, first check if it exists by invoking the following command:

openssl rsa -check -in pk.key`

If the answer is ‘yes’, you must remove the passphrase first, and then proceed to use the private key with ThoughtSpot.

Configure SSL using tscli

Follow these instructions to install the SSL certificate using tscli:

  1. Use the instructions from the certifying authority where you obtained the certificate.

    This is usually sent to you by email, or available for download.

  2. Copy the certificate and key files to ThoughtSpot:

       $ scp <key> <certificate> admin@<IP_address>:<certificate-path>

  3. Log in to the Linux shell using SSH.

  4. Change to the directory where you copied the files:

     $ cd <certificate-path>

  5. To install the certificate, issue the tscli command:

     $ tscli ssl add-cert <key> <certificate> <IP_address_or_URL>

  6. To test that the certificate is correctly installed, sign in to the ThoughtSpot application (https://docs.thoughtspot.com/6.0/admin/setup/logins.html#sign-in-to-the-thoughtspot-application).

    You should see that the application’s URL begins with https://.

Set the recommended TLS version

ThoughtSpot supports SSL v3, TLS v1.2 by default. Support for TLS v1.0 and v1.1 is included for backwards compatibility. To ensure support for TLS version 1.2:

  1. Enable your web browser to support TLS v1.2. This can be done in your browser’s advanced settings.

  2. Log in to the Linux shell using SSH and run command:

    tscli ssl tls-status

    It should respond with

    Minimum TLS version supported: 1.2

    This will block all usage of older versions.

  3. To change this, run tls ssl set-min-tls-version 1.1 or tls ssl set-min-tls-version 1.0 as desired for backward compatibility.

Configuration string for load balancers

When enabling SSL support on a load balancer’s server-side SSL client profile, make sure to add support for the following ciphers to ensure compatibility between the load balancer and ThoughtSpot.

The following ciphers are currently supported:

|   TLSv1.2:
|     ciphers:
|       TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 - strong
|       TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA - strong
|       TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256 - strong
|       TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 - strong
|       TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 - strong
|       TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA - strong
|       TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384 - strong
|       TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 - strong
|     compressors:
|       NULL
|_  least strength: strong

The cipher string would be as follows:

EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH

You can retrieve these from the ThoughtSpot web server (not against the load balancer) by running the following command on any ThoughtSpot node: nmap --script ssl-enum-ciphers -p 443 <ThoughtSpot_node_IP_address>

You must ensure that your load balancer supports these ciphers. If your load balancer cannot support these ciphers, contact ThoughtSpot Support.

Configure SSL through the Admin Console

To configure SSL, navigate to the Admin Console by clicking on the Admin tab from the top navigation bar. Select SSL from the side navigation bar that appears.

Admin Console - SSL

Click Configure.

Fill out the following parameters:

Configure WebServer SSL

1 Select Enable.
2 Choose RSA.
3 Choose TLS 1.2 as a best practice. ThoughtSpot also supports TLS 1.1 and 1.0; set the minimum supported version to 1.1 or 1.0 to use these versions.
4 Attach your private key file.
5 Attach your SSL certificate bundle file.

Click OK.

Test the SSL certificate

To test if the certificate is installed correctly, see Sign in to the ThoughtSpot application.

Additional resources

As you develop your expertise in authentication and security, we recommend the following ThoughtSpot U course:

See other training resources at
ThoughtSpot U