Configure ADO.NET, ODBC, and vsql Clients on Windows

The Vertica client drivers support the Windows SSPI library for Kerberos authentication. Windows Kerberos configuration is stored in the registry.

You can choose between two different setup scenarios for Kerberos authentication on ODBC and vsql clients on Windows and ADO.NET:

Windows KDC on Active Directory with Windows Built-in Kerberos Client and Vertica

Kerberos authentication on Windows is commonly used with Active Directory, Microsoft's enterprise directory service/Kerberos implementation.Typically your organization's network or IT administrator performs the setup.

Windows clients have Kerberos authentication built into the authentication process. You do not need any additional software.

Your login credentials authenticate you to the Kerberos server (KDC) when you:

  • Log in to Windows from a client machine
  • Use a Windows instance that has been configured to use Kerberos through Active Directory

To use Kerberos authentication on Windows clients, log in as REALM\user.

When you use the ADO.NET driver to connect to Vertica, you can optionally specify IntegratedSecurity=true in the connection string. This informs the driver to authenticate the calling user against the user's Windows credentials. As a result, you do not need to include a user name or password in the connection string. Any user=<username> entry to the connection string is ignored.

Linux KDC with Windows Built-in Kerberos Client and Vertica

A simple, but less common scenario is to configure Windows to authenticate against a non-Windows KDC. In this implementation, you use the ksetup utility to point the Windows operating system native Kerberos capabilities at a non-Active Directory KDC. By logging in to Windows, you obtain a ticket-granting ticket, similar to the Active Directory implementation. However, in this case, Windows is internally communicating with a Linux KDC. See the Microsoft Windows Server Ksetup page for more information.

When a database/windows user logs into their Windows machine (or after performing a kinit on Windows) the Kerberos ticket MUST have ok_as_delegate and forwardable flag set to be able to access webhdfs based external tables as follows:

$ CMD \> klist
#2>     Client: release @ VERTQA.LOCAL
Server: vertica/vqatest108.verticacorp.com @ VERTQA.LOCAL
KerbTicket Encryption Type: RSADSI RC4-HMAC(NT)
Ticket Flags 0x40a50000 forwardable renewable pre_authent ok_as_delegate name_canonicalize 
Start Time: 9/27/2017 13:24:43 (local)
End Time:   9/27/2017 20:34:45 (local)
Renew Time: 10/3/2017 15:04:45 (local)
Session Key Type: RSADSI RC4-HMAC(NT)
Cache Flags: 0
Kdc Called: ADKDC01

The Ticket Flags setting above must contain ok_as_delegate and forwardable entries. For information on these parameters see Kerberos documentation.

Configure Windows Clients for Kerberos Authentication

Depending on which implementation you want to configure, refer to one of the following pages on the Microsoft Server website:

Authenticate and Connect Clients

The KDC can authenticate both an ADO.NET and a vsql client.

Use the fully-qualified domain name as the server in your connection string; for example, use host.example.com instead of just host. That way, if the server moves location, you do not have to change your connection string.

Verify an ADO.NET Authentication Request and Connection

This example shows how to use the IntegratedSecurity=true, setting to specify that the ADO.NET driver authenticate the calling user's Windows credentials:

VerticaConnection conn = new 
VerticaConnection("Database=VMart;Server=host.example.com;
Port=5433;IntegratedSecurity=true;
KerberosServiceName=vertica;KerberosHostname=vcluster.example.com");
conn.open();

Verify a vsql Authentication Request and Connection

  1. Log in to your Windows client, for example, as EXAMPLE\kuser.

  2. Run the vsql client and supply the connection string to Vertica:

    C:\Users\kuser\Desktop>vsql.exe -h host.example.com -K vcluster -U kuser

    Welcome to vsql, the Vertica Analytic Database interactive terminal.
    Type:  \h or \? for help with vsql commands
    \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
    \q to quit

See Also