Installing Rancher Server With SSL


In order to run Rancher server from an https URL, you will need to terminate SSL with a proxy that is capable of setting headers. We’ve provided an example of how it could be set up with NGINX, HAProxy, or Apache, but other tools could be used.

Requirements

Besides the typical Rancher server requirements, you will also need:

Rancher Server Tags

Rancher server has 2 different tags. For each major release tag, we will provide documentation for the specific version.

  • rancher/server:latest tag will be our latest development builds. These builds will have been validated through our CI automation framework. These releases are not meant for deployment in production.
  • rancher/server:stable tag will be our latest stable release builds. This tag is the version that we recommend for production.

Please do not use any release with a rc{n} suffix. These rc builds are meant for the Rancher team to test out builds.

Launching Rancher Server

In our example configuration, all traffic will pass through the proxy and be sent over a Docker link to the Rancher server container. There are alternative approaches that could be followed, but this example is simple and translates well.

Start Rancher server. We have added in --name=rancher-server to this command in order to link the proxy container to the Rancher server container.

$ sudo docker run -d --restart=unless-stopped --name=rancher-server rancher/server


Note: In our example, we have assumed the proxy will be running in another container. If you are planning to run a proxy from the host, you will need to expose port 8080 locally by adding -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 to the docker run command.

If you are converting an existing Rancher instance, the upgrade to the new Rancher instance will depend on how you launched your original Rancher instance.

Example Nginx Configuration

Here is the minimum NGINX configuration that will need to be configured. You should customize your configuration to meet your needs. Ensure that you use nginx version >= 1.9.5.

Notes on the Settings

  • rancher-server is the name of your rancher server container. When starting your rancher server container, the command must include --name=rancher-server. When starting your nginx container, the command must include --link=rancher-server for this exact configuration to work.
  • <server> can be any arbitrary name, but the same name should be used for both the http and https servers.
upstream rancher {
    server rancher-server:8080;
}

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default Upgrade;
    ''      close;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name <server>;
    ssl_certificate <cert_file>;
    ssl_certificate_key <key_file>;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://rancher;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;
        # This allows the ability for the execute shell window to remain open for up to 15 minutes. Without this parameter, the default is 1 minute and will automatically close.
        proxy_read_timeout 900s;
    }
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name <server>;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

Example Apache Configuration

Here is an Apache configuration.

Notes on the Settings

  • <server_name> is the name of your rancher server container. When starting your Apache container, the command must include --link=<server_name> for this exact configuration to work.
  • In the proxy settings, you’ll need to substitute rancher for your configuration.
  • Make sure the module proxy_wstunnel is enabled (websocket support).
<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName <server_name>
  Redirect / https://<server_name>/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName <server_name>

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile </path/to/ssl/cert_file>
  SSLCertificateKeyFile </path/to/ssl/key_file>

  ProxyRequests Off
  ProxyPreserveHost On

  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Connection} Upgrade [NC]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} websocket [NC]
  RewriteRule /(.*) ws://rancher:8080/$1 [P,L]

  RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"
  RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Port "443"

  <Location />
    ProxyPass "http://rancher:8080/"
    ProxyPassReverse "http://rancher:8080/"
  </Location>

</VirtualHost>

EXAMPLE HAProxy CONFIGURATION

Here is the minimum HAProxy configuration that will need to be configured. You should customize your configuration to meet your needs.

Notes on the Settings

  • <rancher_server_X_IP> is the IP address for your rancher servers.
global
  maxconn 4096
  ssl-server-verify none

defaults
  mode http
  balance roundrobin
  option redispatch
  option forwardfor

  timeout connect 5s
  timeout queue 5s
  timeout client 36000s
  timeout server 36000s

frontend http-in
  mode http
  bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/haproxy/certificate.pem
  default_backend rancher_servers

  # Add headers for SSL offloading
  http-request set-header X-Forwarded-Proto https if { ssl_fc }
  http-request set-header X-Forwarded-Ssl on if { ssl_fc }

  acl is_websocket hdr(Upgrade) -i WebSocket
  acl is_websocket hdr_beg(Host) -i ws
  use_backend rancher_servers if is_websocket

backend rancher_servers
  server websrv1 <rancher_server_1_IP>:8080 weight 1 maxconn 1024
  server websrv2 <rancher_server_2_IP>:8080 weight 1 maxconn 1024
  server websrv3 <rancher_server_3_IP>:8080 weight 1 maxconn 1024

Example F5 BIG-IP configuration

The following iRule configuration can be applied to make Rancher Server accessible behind a F5 BIG-IP appliance.

when HTTP_REQUEST {
  HTTP::header insert "X-Forwarded-Proto" "https";
  HTTP::header insert "X-Forwarded-Port" "443";
  HTTP::header insert "X-Forwarded-For" [IP::client_addr];
}

Running Rancher Server Behind an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) in AWS with SSL

We recommend using an ELB in AWS in front of your rancher servers. In order for ELB to work correctly with Rancher’s websockets, you will need to enable proxy protocol mode and ensure HTTP support is disabled. By default, ELB is enabled in HTTP/HTTPS mode, which does not support websockets. Special attention must be paid to listener configuration.

Listener Configuration - SSL

For SSL termination at the ELB, the listener configuration should look like this:

Configuration Type Load Balancer Protocol Load Balancer Port Instance Protocol Instance Port
SSL-Terminated SSL (Secure TCP) 443 TCP 8080 (or the port used with --advertise-http-port when launching Rancher server)
  • Add the appropriate security group and the SSL certificate

Enabling Proxy Protocol

In order for websockets to function properly, the ELB proxy protocol policy must be applied.

$ aws elb create-load-balancer-policy --load-balancer-name <LB_NAME> --policy-name <POLICY_NAME> --policy-type-name ProxyProtocolPolicyType --policy-attributes AttributeName=ProxyProtocol,AttributeValue=true
$ aws elb set-load-balancer-policies-for-backend-server --load-balancer-name <LB_NAME> --instance-port 443 --policy-names <POLICY_NAME>
$ aws elb set-load-balancer-policies-for-backend-server --load-balancer-name <LB_NAME> --instance-port 8080 --policy-names <POLICY_NAME>
  • Health check can be configured to use HTTP:8080 using /ping as your path.

Running Rancher Server Behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in AWS with SSL

We no longer recommend Application Load Balancer (ALB) in AWS over using the Elastic/Classic Load Balancer (ELB). If you still choose to use an ALB, you will need to direct the traffic to the HTTP port on the nodes, which is 8080 by default.

Note: If you use an ALB with Kubernetes, kubectl exec will not work and for that functionality, you will need to use an ELB.

Updating Host Registration

After Rancher is launched with these settings, the UI will be up and running at https://<your domain>/.

Before adding hosts, you’ll need to properly configure Host Registration for SSL.

Using Self Signed Certs (Beta)

Disclaimers

This configuration will work for the ‘core’ services in Rancher running in a standalone mode (Non-HA setup). Currently, none of the certified Rancher templates from the Rancher catalog are supported.

Rancher Compose CLI will require the CA certificate as part of the default store for the operating system. See Golang root_*.

Server Pre-Requisites

  • CA certificate file in PEM format
  • Certificate signed by the CA for the Rancher Server
  • An instance of NGINX or Apache configured to terminate SSL and reverse proxy Rancher server

Rancher Server

  1. Launch the Rancher server container with the modified Docker command. The certificate must be located and called /var/lib/rancher/etc/ssl/ca.crt inside the container.

    $ sudo docker run -d --restart=unless-stopped -p 8080:8080 -v /some/dir/cert.crt:/var/lib/rancher/etc/ssl/ca.crt rancher/server
    


    Note: If you are running NGINX or Apache in a container, you can directly link the instance and not publish the Rancher UI 8080 port.

    The command will configure the server’s ca-certificate bundle so that the Rancher services for machine provisioning, catalog and compose executor can communicate with the Rancher server.

  2. If you are using a container with NGINX or Apache to terminate SSL, launch the container and include the `–link= in the command.

  3. Access Rancher over the https address, i.e. https://rancher.server.domain.

  4. Update the Host Registration for SSL.

Note: Unless the machine running your web browser trusts the CA certificate used to sign the Rancher server certificate, the browser will give an untrusted site warning whenever you visit the web page.

Adding Hosts

  1. On the host that you want to add into Rancher, save the CA certificate, which must be in pem format, into the directory /var/lib/rancher/etc/ssl with the file name ca.crt.

  2. Add the custom host, which is just copying and pasting the command from the UI. The command will already include -v /var/lib/rancher:/var/lib/rancher, so the file will automatically be copied onto your host.

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