Updating your Amazon DocumentDB TLS certificates — GovCloud - Amazon DocumentDB
Updating your application and Amazon DocumentDB clusterTroubleshootingFrequently Asked Questions

Updating your Amazon DocumentDB TLS certificates — GovCloud

Note

This information applies to users in the GovCloud (US-West) and GovCloud (US-East) regions.

The certificate authority (CA) certificate for Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility) clusters will update on May 18, 2022. If you are using Amazon DocumentDB clusters with Transport Layer Security (TLS) enabled (the default setting) and you have not rotated your client application and server certificates, the following steps are required to mitigate connectivity issues between your application and your Amazon DocumentDB clusters.

The CA and server certificates were updated as part of standard maintenance and security best practices for Amazon DocumentDB. The previous CA certificate will expire on May 18, 2022. Client applications must add the new CA certificates to their trust stores, and existing Amazon DocumentDB instances must be updated to use the new CA certificates before this expiration date.

Updating your application and Amazon DocumentDB cluster

Follow the steps in this section to update your application's CA certificate bundle (Step 1) and your cluster's server certificates (Step 2). Before you apply the changes to your production environments, we strongly recommend testing these steps in a development or staging environment.

Note

You must complete Steps 1 and 2 in each AWS Region in which you have Amazon DocumentDB clusters.

Step 1: Download the new CA certificate and update your application

Download the new CA certificate and update your application to use the new CA certificate to create TLS connections to Amazon DocumentDB in your specific region:

Note

If you are accessing the keystore that contains both the old CA certificate (rds-ca-2017-root.pem) and the new CA certificates (rds-ca-rsa2048-g1.pem, rds-ca-rsa4096-g1.pem, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1.pem), verify that the keystore selects your certificate of choice. For details on each certificate, see Step 2 below.

wget https://truststore.pki.us-gov-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com/us-gov-west-1/us-gov-west-1-bundle.pem
wget https://truststore.pki.us-gov-west-1.rds.amazonaws.com/us-gov-east-1/us-gov-east-1-bundle.pem

Next, update your applications to use the new certificate bundle. The new CA bundle contains both the old CA certificate and the new CA certificate (rds-ca-rsa2048-g1.pem, rds-ca-rsa4096-g1.pem, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1.pem). By having both CA certificates in the new CA bundle, you can update your application and cluster in two steps.

Any downloads of the CA certificate bundle after December 21, 2021 should use the new CA certificate bundle. To verify that your application is using the latest CA certificate bundle, see How can I be sure that I'm using the newest CA bundle? If you're already using the latest CA certificate bundle in your application, you can skip to Step 2.

For examples of using a CA bundle with your application, see Encrypting data in transit and Connecting with TLS enabled.

Note

Currently, the MongoDB Go Driver 1.2.1 only accepts one CA server certificate in sslcertificateauthorityfile. Please see Connecting with TLS enabled for connecting to Amazon DocumentDB using Go when TLS is enabled.

Step 2: Update the server certificate

After the application has been updated to use the new CA bundle, the next step is to update the server certificate by modifying each instance in an Amazon DocumentDB cluster. To modify instances to use the new server certificate, see the following instructions.

Amazon DocumentDB provides the following CAs to sign the DB server certificate for a DB instance:

  • rds-ca-ecc384-g1—Uses a certificate authority with ECC 384 private key algorithm and SHA384 signing algorithm. This CA supports automatic server certificate rotation. This is only supported on Amazon DocumentDB 4.0 and 5.0.

  • rds-ca-rsa2048-g1—Uses a certificate authority with RSA 2048 private key algorithm and SHA256 signing algorithm in most AWS regions. This CA supports automatic server certificate rotation.

  • rds-ca-rsa4096-g1—Uses a certificate authority with RSA 4096 private key algorithm and SHA384 signing algorithm. This CA supports automatic server certificate rotation.

Note

If you are using the AWS CLI, you can see the validities of the certificate authorities listed above by using describe-certificates.

Note

Amazon DocumentDB 4.0 and 5.0 instances do not require a reboot.

Updating your Amazon DocumentDB 3.6 instances requires a reboot, which might cause service disruption. Before updating the server certificate, ensure that you have completed Step 1.

Using the AWS Management Console

Complete the following steps to identify and rotate the old server certificate for your existing Amazon DocumentDB instances using the AWS Management Console.

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the Amazon DocumentDB console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb.

  2. In the list of Regions in the upper-right corner of the screen, choose the AWS Region in which your clusters reside.

  3. In the navigation pane on the left side of the console, choose Clusters.

  4. You may need to identify which instances are still on the old server certificate (rds-ca-2017). You can do this in the Certificate authority column which is hidden by default. To show the Certificate authority column, do the following:

    1. Choose the Settings icon.

      Image of the Clusters navigation box with the Settings icon highlighted.

    2. Under the list of visible columns, choose the Certificate authority column.

    3. Choose Confirm to save your changes.

  5. Now back in the Clusters navigation box, you’ll see the column Cluster Identifier. Your instances are listed under clusters, similar to the screenshot below.

    Image of the Clusters navigation box showing a list of existing cluster links and their corresponding instance links.

  6. Check the box to the left of the instance you are interested in.

  7. Choose Actions and then choose Modify.

  8. Under Certificate authority, select the new server certificate (rds-ca-rsa2048-g1, rds-ca-rsa4096-g1, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1) for this instance.

  9. You can see a summary of the changes on the next page. Note that there is an extra alert to remind you to ensure that your application is using the latest certificate CA bundle before modifying the instance to avoid causing an interruption in connectivity.

  10. You can choose to apply the modification during your next maintenance window or apply immediately. If your intention is to modify the server certificate immediately, use the Apply Immediately option.

  11. Choose Modify instance to complete the update.

Using the AWS CLI

Complete the following steps to identify and rotate the old server certificate for your existing Amazon DocumentDB instances using the AWS CLI.

  1. To modify the instances immediately, execute the following command for each instance in the cluster. Use one of the following certificates: rds-ca-rsa2048-g1,rds-ca-rsa4096-g1, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1.

    aws docdb modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier <yourInstanceIdentifier> --ca-certificate-identifier rds-ca-rsa4096-g1 --apply-immediately

  2. To modify the instances in your clusters to use the new CA certificate during your cluster’s next maintenance window, execute the following command for each instance in the cluster. Use one of the following certificates: rds-ca-rsa2048-g1, rds-ca-rsa4096-g1, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1.

    aws docdb modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier <yourInstanceIdentifier> --ca-certificate-identifier rds-ca-rsa4096-g1 --no-apply-immediately

Troubleshooting

If you are having issues connecting to your cluster as part of the certificate rotation, we suggest the following:

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are answers to some common questions about TLS certificates.

What if I have questions or issues?

If you have questions or issues, contact AWS Support.

How do I know whether I'm using TLS to connect to my Amazon DocumentDB cluster?

You can determine whether your cluster is using TLS by examining the tls parameter for your cluster’s cluster parameter group. If the tls parameter is set to enabled, you are using the TLS certificate to connect to your cluster. For more information, see Managing Amazon DocumentDB cluster parameter groups.

Why are you updating the CA and server certificates?

The Amazon DocumentDB CA and server certificates were updated as part of standard maintenance and security best practices for Amazon DocumentDB. The current CA and server certificates will expire on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

What happens if I don't take any action by the expiration date?

If you are using TLS to connect to your Amazon DocumentDB cluster and you do not make the change by May 18, 2022, your applications that connect via TLS will no longer be able to communicate with the Amazon DocumentDB cluster.

Amazon DocumentDB will not rotate your database certificates automatically before expiration. You must update your applications and clusters to use the new CA certificates before or after the expiration date.

How do I know which of my Amazon DocumentDB instances are using the old/new server certificate?

To identify the Amazon DocumentDB instances that still use the old server certificate, you can use either the Amazon DocumentDB AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI.

To identify the instances in your clusters that are using the older certificate

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the Amazon DocumentDB console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb.

  2. In the list of Regions in the upper-right corner of the screen, choose the AWS Region in which your instances reside.

  3. In the navigation pane on the left side of the console, choose Instances.

  4. The Certificate authority column (hidden by default) shows which instances are still on the old server certificate (rds-ca-2017) and the new server certificate (rds-ca-rsa2048-g1, rds-ca-rsa4096-g1, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1). To show the Certificate authority column, do the following:

    1. Choose the Settings icon.

    2. Under the list of visible columns, choose the Certificate authority column.

    3. Choose Confirm to save your changes.

To identify the instances in your clusters that are using the older server certificate, use the describe-db-clusters command with the following .

aws docdb describe-db-instances \
    --filters Name=engine,Values=docdb \
    --query 'DBInstances[*].{CertificateVersion:CACertificateIdentifier,InstanceID:DBInstanceIdentifier}'

How do I modify individual instances in my Amazon DocumentDB cluster to update the server certificate?

We recommend that you update server certificates for all instances in a given cluster at the same time. To modify the instances in your cluster, you can use either the console or the AWS CLI.

Note

Updating your instances requires a reboot, which might cause service disruption. Before updating the server certificate, ensure that you have completed Step 1.

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the Amazon DocumentDB console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb.

  2. In the list of Regions in the upper-right corner of the screen, choose the AWS Region in which your clusters reside.

  3. In the navigation pane on the left side of the console, choose Instances.

  4. The Certificate authority column (hidden by default) shows which instances are still on the old server certificate (rds-ca-2017). To show the Certificate authority column, do the following:

    1. Choose the Settings icon.

    2. Under the list of visible columns, choose the Certificate authority column.

    3. Choose Confirm to save your changes.

  5. Select an instance to modify.

  6. Choose Actions and then choose Modify.

  7. Under Certificate authority, select one of the new server certificate (rds-ca-rsa2048-g1,rds-ca-rsa4096-g1, or rds-ca-ecc384-g1) for this instance.

  8. You can see a summary of the changes on the next page. Note that there is an extra alert to remind you to ensure that your application is using the latest certificate CA bundle before modifying the instance to avoid causing an interruption in connectivity.

  9. You can choose to apply the modification during your next maintenance window or apply immediately.

  10. Choose Modify instance to complete the update.

Complete the following steps to identify and rotate the old server certificate for your existing Amazon DocumentDB instances using the AWS CLI.

  1. To modify the instances immediately, execute the following command for each instance in the cluster.

    aws docdb modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier <yourInstanceIdentifier> --ca-certificate-identifier rds-ca-rsa4096-g1 --apply-immediately

  2. To modify the instances in your clusters to use the new CA certificate during your cluster’s next maintenance window, execute the following command for each instance in the cluster.

    aws docdb modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier <yourInstanceIdentifier> --ca-certificate-identifier rds-ca-rsa4096-g1 --no-apply-immediately

What happens if I add a new instance to an existing cluster?

All new instances that are created use the old server certificate and require TLS connections using the old CA certificate. Any new Amazon DocumentDB instances created after March 21, 2022 will default to using the new certificates.

What happens if there is an instance replacement or failover on my cluster?

If there is an instance replacement in your cluster, the new instance that is created continues to use the same server certificate that the instance was previously using. We recommend that you update server certificates for all instances at the same time. If a failover occurs in the cluster, the server certificate on the new primary is used.

If I'm not using TLS to connect to my cluster, do I still need to update each of my instances?

If you are not using TLS to connect to your Amazon DocumentDB clusters, no action is needed.

If I'm not using TLS to connect to my cluster but I plan to in the future, what should I do?

If you created a cluster before March 21, 2022, follow Step 1 and Step 2 in the previous section to ensure that your application is using the updated CA bundle, and that each Amazon DocumentDB instance is using the latest server certificate. If you create a cluster after March 21, 2022, your cluster will already have the latest server certificate. To verify that your application is using the latest CA bundle, see If I'm not using TLS to connect to my cluster, do I still need to update each of my instances?

Can the deadline be extended beyond May 18, 2022?

If your applications are connecting via TLS, the deadline cannot be extended beyond May 18, 2022.

How can I be sure that I'm using the newest CA bundle?

For compatibility reasons, both old and new CA bundle files are named us-gov-west-1-bundle.pem. You can also use tools like openssl or keytool to inspect the CA bundle.

Why do I see "RDS" in the name of the CA bundle?

For certain management features, such as certificate management, Amazon DocumentDB uses operational technology that is shared with Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS).

When will the new certificate expire?

The new server certificate will expire (generally) as follows:

  • rds-ca-rsa2048-g1—Expires 2061

  • rds-ca-rsa4096-g1—Expires 2121

  • rds-ca-ecc384-g1—Expires 2121

What kind of errors will I see if I don't take action before the certificate expires?

Error messages will vary depending on your driver. In general, you'll see certificate validation errors that contain the string "certificate has expired".

If I applied the new server certificate, can I revert it back to the old server certificate?

If you need to revert an instance to the old server certificate, we recommend that you do so for all instances in the cluster. You can revert the server certificate for each instance in a cluster by using the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI.

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the Amazon DocumentDB console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/docdb.

  2. In the list of Regions in the upper-right corner of the screen, choose the AWS Region in which your clusters reside.

  3. In the navigation pane on the left side of the console, choose Instances.

  4. Select an instance to modify. Choose Actions, and then choose Modify.

  5. Under Certificate authority, you can select the old server certificate ( rds-ca-2017).

  6. Choose Continue to view a summary of your modifications.

  7. In this resulting page, you can choose to schedule your modifications to be applied in the next maintenance window or apply your modifications immediately. Make your selection, and choose Modify instance.

    Note

    If you choose to apply your modifications immediately, any changes in the pending modifications queue are also applied. If any of the pending modifications require downtime, choosing this option can cause unexpected downtime.

aws docdb modify-db-instance --db-instance-identifier <db_instance_name> ca-certificate-identifier rds-ca-2017 <--apply-immediately | --no-apply-immediately>

If you choose --no-apply-immediately, the changes will be applied during the cluster’s next maintenance window.

If I restore from a snapshot or a point in time restore, will it have the new server certificate ?

If you restore a snapshot or perform a point-in-time restore after March 21, 2022, the new cluster that is created will use the new CA certificate.

What if I’m having issues connecting directly to my Amazon DocumentDB cluster from Mac OS X Catalina?

Mac OS X Catalina has updated the requirements for trusted certificates. Trusted certificates must now be valid for 825 days or fewer (see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210176). Amazon DocumentDB instance certificates are valid for over four years, longer than the Mac OS X maximum. In order to connect directly to an Amazon DocumentDB cluster from a computer running Mac OS X Catalina, you must allow invalid certificates when creating the TLS connection. In this case, invalid certificates mean that the validity period is longer than 825 days. You should understand the risks before allowing invalid certificates when connecting to your Amazon DocumentDB cluster.

To connect to an Amazon DocumentDB cluster from OS X Catalina using the AWS CLI, use the tlsAllowInvalidCertificates parameter.

mongo --tls --host <hostname> --username <username> --password <password> --port 27017 --tlsAllowInvalidCertificates