Security and authorization guide

This tutorial describes how to configure the data access security in Flexmonster Data Server used as a console application. For instruction on managing security in the Data Server installed as a Windows/Unix service, see this guide.

Flexmonster Data Server supports different essential security configurations, such as built-in basic authorization and HTTPS.

Built-in basic authorization

By default, Flexmonster Data Server is accessible to anyone who can reach its host. Using the built-in basic authorization, you can restrict access to Flexmonster Data Server.

Step 1. Create a user

The flexmonster-data-server.exe file provides the setup-users command, which allows creating new users and managing them. Run the following command in the console to create a new user:

flexmonster-data-server.exe setup-users add <username> 

./flexmonster-data-server setup-users add <username>

Here, <username> is the name of the created user.

Then you will be prompted to create and confirm the password for the user.

With the setup-users command, it is possible to see all created users, change the password for a user, and delete a user. Run the following command in the console to learn more about users management:

flexmonster-data-server.exe setup-users --help

./flexmonster-data-server setup-users --help

Step 2. Enable authorization

In the flexmonster‑config.json file, enable the authorization by setting the Enabled property of the Authorization object to true:

"Security" : {
    "Authorization": {
        "Enabled": true
    },  
    ... 
}

Step 3. Configure CORS

Basic Authorization requires certain origins to be defined in the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. Origin is a domain that sends requests to Flexmonster Data Server (e.g., http://localhost:8080 or https://example.com).

To allow the origin to send requests to the Data Server, specify the AllowOrigin property in the flexmonster-config.json file:

"Security" : {
    ...
    "CORS": {
        "AllowOrigin": "http://localhost:8080"
    }
} 

Several origins must be defined as follows:

"AllowOrigin": "http://localhost:8080,https://example.com"

Step 4. Configure credentials on the client side

In this step, credentials are configured in Flexmonster Pivot. There are two ways to configure credentials:

1. Use the withCredentials property:

   dataSource: {
       type: "api",
       url: "http://localhost:9500",
       index: "data",
       withCredentials: true
   } 

   In this case, you need to enter your login and password when first connecting to Flexmonster Data Server.
2. Add a request header with basic authentication. The header should be added in the following way:

   dataSource: {
       type: "api",
       url: "http://localhost:9500",
       index: "data",
       requestHeaders: {
           "Authorization": "Basic QWxhZGRpbjpPcGVuU2VzYW1l"
       }
   }
   

   Note The header should be specified in the standard for basic authentication format.
   In this case, the authorization will be automatic, and the browser will not ask for the login and password.

Configure the HTTPS protocol

All data sent by HTTP is not encrypted and can be inspected. To make the Data Server more secure, we added an option to enable the HTTPS protocol. Follow the steps below to configure a secure HTTPS connection.

Step 1. Enable the HTTPS protocol

To enable the HTTPS protocol, set the Enabled property of the HTTPS object to true in the flexmonster‑config.json file:

"HTTPS": {
    "Enabled" : true
}

Step 2. Add a certificate

Add an SSL/TLS certificate. The Data Server supports PFX certificates, PEM certificates, and certificates that can be added using their subject and store:

Step 3. (optional) Configure the protocols

The Protocols property establishes the HTTP protocols enabled on a connection endpoint or for the server. The Protocols property can be one of the following values: "Http1", "Http2", and "Http1AndHttp2". For example:

"HTTPS": {
    "Enabled": true,
    "Certificate": {
        "Path": "sampleCert.pfx",
        "Password": "samplePassword"
    },
    "Protocols": "Http2"
}

Step 4. (optional) Configure HSTS

The Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) response header tells browsers that the site only accepts a connection through the HTTPS protocol. This makes the site usage more secure.

Configure HSTS for Flexmonster Data Server either via the HSTS property or via the Headers property.

"Security" : {
    ...
    "HSTS": {
        "MaxAge": 31536000,
        "IncludeSubDomains": true
    }
}

"Security" : {
    ...
    "Headers": {
        "Strict-Transport-Security": "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains"
    }
} 

Learn more about the directives of HSTS in the MDN documentation.

Restart the Data Server to apply the configurations. The HTTPS protocol will now be used instead of HTTP.

Reverse proxy authorization

If you need to use your own authorization mechanism, you can restrict public access to Flexmonster Data Server and enable access to it through a reverse proxy. This approach requires implementing the proxy, which is responsible for data access control. The proxy will decide which requests should be accepted and passed to the Data Server, and which requests should be declined.

Note The proxy has to implement the custom data source API to handle requests from Flexmonster Pivot. Then the proxy will be able to redirect Flexmonster Pivot's requests to the Data Server. To see the full list of requests sent by Flexmonster Pivot, refer to our documentation.

Custom authorization and role-based permissions

Role-based access is supported when using Flexmonster Data Server as a DLL. Flexmonster.DataServer.Core.dll allows performing server-side filtering, so it becomes possible to show different subsets of the data to different user groups.

To demonstrate the usage of server-side filtering for role-based permissions, we created an ASP.NET application with a custom server using Flexmonster.DataServer.Core.dll.  The GitHub repository contains a solution file DemoDataServerCore.sln, so the sample can be opened and launched via Visual Studio.

To start the sample application from the console, run the following commands:

cd DemoDataServerCore
dotnet restore
dotnet run

To see the result, open http://localhost:5000/ in the browser.

On the page, there is the pivot table and a dropdown menu. Select a role from the menu to see how it affects the data shown in Flexmonster.

To see how the server-side filtering is implemented in the sample server, refer to the FlexmonsterAPIController.cs file.

To learn more about the server filter, see the Implementing the server filter guide.

How to store sensitive configurations more securely

When using the Data Server as a console application, connection strings and other configurations are stored in the flexmonster-data-server/flexmonster-config.json file. If you want to store sensitive configurations more securely, set the configurations dynamically as command-line arguments or environment variables. 

What's next?

You may be interested in the following articles:

• Data sources guide
• Configurations reference
• Implementing the custom data source API on your server