With Azure AD, you have a more robust set of capabilities to manage security and access control for user identities. This article focuses on managing data plane access to Azure Cosmos DB using Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).
Azure Cosmos DB and Azure AD: An Overview
Azure Cosmos DB provides native support for wire protocol compatible APIs, including SQL (DocumentDB), MongoDB, Cassandra, Gremlin, and Table. These APIs can be used between your service and Azure Cosmos DB, providing a seamless and secure connection.
Azure AD, on the other hand, is Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service. It helps your employees sign in and access resources in several ways, such as accessing Microsoft services like Office 365, Azure portal, and importantly in our context, Azure Cosmos DB.
Role Of Azure AD in Cosmos DB Data Plane Access
Data plane operations include creating, reading, updating, and deleting items and containers within your Azure Cosmos database. Access control for these operations in Azure Cosmos DB is managed using either master keys or resource tokens.
Most applications use master keys to serve all types of client requests. These keys provide access to all data plane resources. However, using Azure AD, you can manage access control at a more granular level. Role-based Access Control (RBAC) provides fine-grained access control to Azure Cosmos DB data plane operations.
Configuring Azure Cosmos DB for Azure AD Access
Let’s take a brief look at how to configure Azure Cosmos DB to enable Azure AD integration:
- Enable Azure AD authentication on your Azure Cosmos account.
- Assign Azure roles to the Azure AD identities.
- Use Azure.Identity client library to generate an access token.
- Use the access token to create a CosmosClient from the Azure Cosmos DB SDK.
Example
Consider a scenario in which we have an application that requires read and write access to a specific document in the Azure Cosmos DB. Instead of giving the app direct access using master keys that have permission to all operations across all data, we can use Azure AD to give specific access.
To implement this scenario, you would:
- Enable Azure AD authentication on Cosmos DB account using Azure portal.
- Create a custom role definition that gives read/write access to the specific documents, and no other permissions. Use the “Cosmos DB Azure Role Based Access Control Data Actions” to specify the permissions.
- Assign this role to the Azure AD identity used by the app. Azure portal provides an interface for doing this role assignment.
Thereafter, the app can use Azure.Identity client library to get a token credential.
TokenCredential credential = new DefaultAzureCredential();
We can then create a CosmosClient using this token credential:
CosmosClient client = new CosmosClient(cosmosDbEndpoint, credential, options);
This client will only be able to perform the operations that were specified in the role definition.
Conclusion
By integrating Azure AD with Azure Cosmos DB, you can significantly enhance your security posture by enabling more granular control over data access. It doesn’t just help make your application safer, but also aligned with best practices for managing access to sensitive data. Using Azure AD for access control to the Azure Cosmos DB data plane is especially recommended for all production deployments.
Practice Test
True or False: Data plane access to Azure Cosmos DB can be managed through Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB supports Azure AD-based access control on data plane and allows users to manage access with their Azure AD identities.
What is the main benefit of using Azure AD to manage access to Azure Cosmos DB?
- A) Improved security
- B) Easier to manage
- C) Both A and B
- D) None of the above
Answer: C) Both A and B
Explanation: Azure AD provides an additional security layer to ensure authorized data access. It simplifies management by handling authentication and minimizing the use of master keys.
True or False: It’s okay to share the master key to Azure Cosmos DB as it doesn’t affect security.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The master key grants complete control over Azure Cosmos DB resources. It’s crucial not to share it without necessity to reduce risk and improve security.
To manage data plane access to Azure Cosmos DB using Azure AD, what do you need to have in place?
- A) Properly configured Azure AD
- B) Azure Cosmos DB account
- C) Both A and B
- D) Any Azure account
Answer: C) Both A and B
Explanation: A configured Azure AD and an Azure Cosmos DB account are both necessary to manage data plane access.
True or False: Accessing Azure Cosmos DB via Azure AD does not support role-based access control.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB supports role-based access control (RBAC) for data plane activities, which strengthens security and fine-grains access management.
Which of the following operations can be performed using Azure AD integration with Azure Cosmos DB?
- A) Read
- B) Insert
- C) Replace
- D) All of the above
Answer: D) All of the above
Explanation: Azure AD integration in Azure Cosmos DB can be used to perform read, insert, replace, and even delete operations on data.
Multi-region writes in Azure Cosmos DB can be controlled using Azure AD?
- A) True
- B) False
Answer: A) True
Explanation: Azure AD supports controlling of multi-region writes in Azure Cosmos DB to ensure only authorized users perform these operations.
Azure AD integration with Azure Cosmos DB allows for single sign-on (SSO) functionality?
- A) True
- B) False
Answer: A) True
Explanation: Azure AD integration supports single sign-on functionality, simplifying the user experience by reducing the necessity for multiple logins.
True or False: Azure AD can only control read access on Azure Cosmos DB.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure AD can manage both read and write access on Azure Cosmos DB.
Azure AD allows integrating with Azure Cosmos DB via __________.
- A) Azure portal
- B) REST APIs
- C) Both A and B
- D) Neither A nor B
Answer: C) Both A and B
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB can be accessed through Azure AD using either the Azure portal or REST APIs among other possible methods.
Who is responsible for defining roles in Azure AD to manage access to Azure Cosmos DB?
- A) Microsoft
- B) Azure administrators
- C) Both A and B
- D) None of the above
Answer: B) Azure administrators
Explanation: It is the responsibility of Azure administrators to define roles in Azure AD for managing access to Azure Cosmos DB.
Can Azure AD-based access control be enabled at the database or container level in Azure Cosmos DB?
- A) True
- B) False
Answer: B) False
Explanation: Currently, Azure AD-based access control cannot be enabled at the database or container level in Azure Cosmos DB. It’s done at the account level.
True or False: Azure Cosmos DB doesn’t support the Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) preview for data plane operations.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB does support Azure RBAC preview for data plane operations.
Azure Cosmos DB allows to view and manage all Azure AD-based access control (Azure RBAC) roles and user assignments in the Azure portal?
- A) True
- B) False
Answer: A) True
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB allows to manage and view all Azure RBAC roles and user assignments directly from the Azure portal.
True or False: Azure Cosmos DB supports both Azure AD authentication and Azure AD authorization.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB does support Azure AD authentication for verification of identities and Azure AD authorization for checking permissions and roles.
Interview Questions
What is Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure Cosmos DB is a globally-distributed, multi-model NoSQL database service developed by Microsoft for managing data at a planetary scale.
What is Azure AD (Active Directory)?
Azure AD (Active Directory) is Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service, which helps your employees sign in and access resources.
How does Azure AD assist with managing data plane access to Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure AD provides an identity platform with robust security mechanisms. RBAC (Role Based Access Control) can be used with Azure AD identities to manage data plane access permissions in Azure Cosmos DB securely.
What are the two types of roles in Azure RBAC?
The two types of roles are built-in roles and custom roles, that can be used to restrict what actions users can perform on Azure Cosmos DB.
Do you require Azure AD to manage data plane access to Azure Cosmos DB?
Yes, Azure AD is required to control access and manage permissions on data in Azure Cosmos DB.
How can Azure AD identities be used to manage access to Cosmos DB resources?
Azure AD identities can be assigned roles such as “Cosmos DB Data Reader” or “Cosmos DB Data Contributor”. These roles can be used to control the operations that users can perform on the data in Cosmos DB.
What is the use of the ‘Cosmos DB Account Reader Role’ in Azure AD?
The ‘Cosmos DB Account Reader Role’ allows the user to read Cosmos DB accounts and its properties.
What is the use of the ‘Cosmos DB Data Contributor Role’ in Azure AD?
The ‘Cosmos DB Data Contributor Role’ in Azure AD allows you to read, write, and delete data in Cosmos DB, and execute stored procedures and user-defined functions.
Can you assign Azure AD roles to a group?
Yes, roles can be assigned directly to single users, groups of users, or service principals in Azure AD.
How do you secure data in motion for Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure Cosmos DB ensures data is secure in motion by enforcing SSL/TLS 1.2+ for all its data.
What is the Cosmos DB SQL (Core) API?
The Cosmos DB SQL (Core) API is a document database interface for Cosmos DB that provides a programming model for data objects and containers.
What are the benefits of using Azure AD with Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure AD provides secure, enterprise-grade authentication and authorization for Azure Cosmos DB, allowing easier management and control over who can access and manipulate data.
How can you monitor Azure Cosmos DB data plane operations?
Azure Cosmos DB logs data plane operations to Azure Monitor, allowing you to view logs and metrics for troubleshooting and monitoring performance.
What is Azure RBAC?
Azure RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) is a system that provides fine-grained access management for Azure resources, including Azure Cosmos DB, allowing you to grant only the amount of access that users need to perform their tasks.
What are the limits on the number of Azure AD role assignments per subscription?
The limit is 2,000 role assignments per Azure AD tenant per subscription.
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