Quorums
This feature allows an administrator to configure a system (or quorum) that can have multiple approvers for an operation. These approvers approve the operations before they can be successfully executed.
Operations Supported by Quorums
Operation | Authorized Group(s) for Approval |
---|---|
Deletekey | Key Admins |
AddUserToGroup | User Admins |
DownloadBackupKey [Root Domain Only] | Restore Admins and Backup Admins |
RestoreBackup [Root Domain Only] | Restore Admins |
DeleteDomain | Domain Admins |
ManagePolicy | admin |
DownloadBackupKeyDomain | Domain Backup Admins and Domain Restore Admins |
RestoreBackupDomain | Domain Restore Admins |
DeleteEKMKey [For Deleting EKM Endpoints] | CCKM Admins |
The authorized group(s) for quorum approval associated with operations are configurable. To configure, refer to Updating Quorum Profile.
ManagePolicy
The ManagePolicy gives you a provision to enable a quorum for:
Creating policies
Deleting policies
These policies can be system policies, user policies, or quorum policies. When you activate/deactivate a quorum, a policy is created/deleted internally. If you want to bring activation/deactivation of a quorum policy under a quorum, activate the quorum on the ManagePolicy action.
Once a quorum is enabled for ManagePolicy, the activation and deactivation of a quorum for any supported operation has to go through the quorum's approval process, similar to any other policy on the CipherTrust Manager. For more details on ManagePolicy, refer to Enabling Quorum on ManagePolicy.
Caution
This feature is a technical preview for evaluation in non-production environments. A technical preview introduces new, incomplete functionality for customer feedback as we work on the feature. Details and functionality are subject to change. This includes API endpoints, UI elements, and CLI commands. We cannot guarantee that data created as part of a technical preview will be retained after the feature is finalized.
Quorum Policies
To enable the quorum for any operation, first you need to activate the quorum policy. After the quorum policy is active for an operation, a quorum gets created in a pre-active
state on performing the corresponding operation. To activate a quorum policy, refer to Activating the Quorum Policy.
For more details on quorum policies, refer to Managing Quorums Policies using ksctl.
Caution
All quorum policies must be disabled before system upgrade and creating a backup. This limitation is valid as long as quorum is a technical preview feature.
Quorum Profile
It's a configuration that defines the expiration time, number of approvals, and the voter groups for a quorum.
For more details on quorum profile, refer to Managing Quorums Profiles using ksctl.
States & Life-cycle of a Quorum Request
If an administrator has configured a quorum for any operation and the user initiates that operation, then that operation is denied and leads to the creation of a quorum request.
The quorum request life-cycle is as follows:
The quorum is created in a
pre-active
state. A quorum or a quorum request can have one of these six states at a time as depicted in the below diagram.Note
The user/requester of this quorum must activate the quorum before any of the approvers can review the quorum request.
Once the quorum is in the
active
state, it is available to the approvers to review it. The user/requester can optionally add a reason for initiating the request while activating it.When the required approvals are granted, the quorum is set to an
approved
state.A quorum request is set to an
executed
state if the operation has been completed with an approved quorum.A deny vote forces a quorum to be in a
denied
state implying that the operation can not be performed and the quorum is terminated.
In case a quorum already exists for the same operation, the status of the existing quorum is used to determine the outcome of the operation. Any approver can vote either to approve or deny a quorum request. A note can be added with the vote for additional information.
Note
A quorum in a pre-active
state is prone to an expedited expiry. It expires after 15 minutes of creation, if not activated.
Note
Every quorum expires after seven (7) days of the creation and this leads to the termination of that quorum.
Managing Quorums Policies using ksctl
The following operations can be performed:
Activate the quorum policy
Get status of the quorum policy
Deactivate the quorum policy
Activating the Quorum Policy
To create a policy supporting quorum and activating the policy, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum-policy activate --actions <Actions>
Example Request
ksctl quorum-policy activate --actions "DeleteKey"
Example Response
{
"Policy": {
"id": "fd6f911b-f280-492c-9eac-aed35590d530",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:admin:policies:enablequorum-fd6f911b-f280-492c-9eac-aed35590d530",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"application": "ncryptify:gemalto:admin:apps:kylo",
"devAccount": "ncryptify:gemalto:admin:accounts:gemalto",
"createdAt": "2021-06-01T04:45:48.917228Z",
"name": "EnableQuorum",
"actions": [
"DeleteKey"
],
"resources": null,
"allow": false,
"effect": "obligate_on_allow",
"updatedAt": "2021-06-01T04:45:48.917228Z"
},
"required_approvals": 2
}
Getting Status of the Quorum Policy
To know whether the quorum policy is in active state or inactive state, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum-policy status
Example Request
ksctl quorum-policy status
Example Response
[
{
"operation": [
"DeleteKey"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "DeleteKey requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"DownloadBackupkeyDomain"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "DownloadBackupkeyDomain requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"AddUserToGroup"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "AddUserToGroup requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"RestoreBackupDomain"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "RestoreBackupDomain requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"ManagePolicy"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "ManagePolicy requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"DeleteDomain"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "DeleteDomain requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"DeleteEKMKey"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "DeleteEKMKey requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"RestoreBackup"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "RestoreBackup requires quorum"
},
{
"operation": [
"DownloadBackupkey"
],
"active": false,
"profile": "DownloadBackupkey requires quorum"
}
]
The 'active' field represents whether policy is active. It returns true
if the quorum policy is active and false
otherwise.
Deactivating the Quorum Policy
To deactivate the already active quorum policy for any specific operation, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum-policy deactivate --actions <Actions>
Example Request
ksctl quorum-policy deactivate
Example Response
There will be no response if quorum policy is deactivated successfully.
Enabling Quorum on ManagePolicy
Enabling a quorum on ManagePolicy brings activation/deactivation of a quorum policy under a quorum. It implies that you won't be able to activate/deactivate any quorum on your own without creating a quorum for that request.
Let's consider a scenario where you have activated a quorum for the "DeleteKey" operation. Currently, you are allowed to deactivate the created quorum.
However, if a quorum is enabled on ManagePolicy, you cannot activate/deactivate any quorum.
Now, let's enable a quorum on ManagePolicy. To do so, run the following command:
ksctl quorum-policy activate --actions ManagePolicy
Example Response
{
"Policy":{
"id":"16118020-afdf-486d-b233-991426cb4dfe",
"uri":"kylo:kylo:admin:policies:managepolicy-requires-quorum-16118020-afdf-486d-b233-991426cb4dfe",
"account":"kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"application":"ncryptify:gemalto:admin:apps:kylo",
"devAccount":"ncryptify:gemalto:admin:accounts:gemalto",
"createdAt":"2022-06-14T11:12:02.146817Z",
"name":"ManagePolicy requires quorum",
"actions":[
"CreatePolicy",
"DeletePolicy"
],
"resources":null,
"allow":false,
"effect":"obligate_on_allow",
"updatedAt":"2022-06-14T11:12:02.146817Z"
},
"required_approvals":3
}
Now, if you try to deactivate the quorum for "DeleteKey" created above, an error is thrown as shown below and the deactivation of quorum is not allowed:
{
"code": 4,
"codeDesc": "NCERRInsufficientPermissions",
"message": "A Quorum has been created with ID (fd6f911b-f280-492c-9eac-aed35590d530) in pre-active state. Please activate it."
}
Managing Quorums using ksctl
The following operations can be performed:
Activate quorum
Approve quorum
Deny quorum
List/Search quorums
Get quorum
Delete quorum
Revoke vote
Activating Quorums
To activate a quorum, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum activate --id <QuorumId> --quorum-reason <Reason-to-activate>
It changes the state of the quorum from pre-active
to active
. A quorum can be approved only when it is in the active
state.
After quorum is active, it is available for the approval process.
Example Request
ksctl quorum activate --id 558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5
Example Response
{
"id": "558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum:558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-05-31T07:47:27.435019Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-06-01T05:02:49.884088Z",
"requester_id": "local|f3ef594a-6b8f-4906-87b6-bd415762115d",
"operation_fingerprint": "c301c3c23252fa3ff3d097e5d00c9000",
"operation": "DeleteKey",
"resource_uri": "kylo:kylo:vault:keys:ks-d707f2d9f313415fbc613e4bffb3ebb810f7235350824f2bbaff68668fef6c2e-v0",
"state": "active",
"required_approvals": 1,
"meta": null,
"votes": []
}
Note
The requester of the operation is also the owner of the associated quorum. Only the requester/owner has permission to activate the associated quorum.
Approving Quorums
To approve a quorum, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum approve --id <QuorumId> --note <Additional-note-for-approval>
When all the required approvals are available, then quorum moves to the approved
state and you can re-initiate the associated operation.
Example Request
ksctl quorum approve --id 558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5
Example Response
There will be no response if quorum is approved successfully.
Denying Quorums
To deny a approval to a quorum, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum deny --id <QuorumId> --note <Additional-note-for-denial>
This command moves a quorum to the denied
state. This is a terminal state and quorum is unusable after deny.
Example Request
ksctl quorum deny --id 558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5
Example Response
There will be no response if quorum is denied successfully.
Getting List of Quorums
To get the list of quorums, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum list
Example Request
ksctl quorum list
Example Response
{
"skip": 0,
"limit": 10,
"total": 1,
"resources": [
{
"id": "558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum:558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-05-31T07:47:27.435019Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-05-31T07:47:27.431175Z",
"requester_id": "local|f3ef594a-6b8f-4906-87b6-bd415762115d",
"operation_fingerprint": "c301c3c23252fa3ff3d097e5d00c9000",
"operation": "DeleteKey",
"resource_uri": "kylo:kylo:vault:keys:ks-d707f2d9f313415fbc613e4bffb3ebb810f7235350824f2bbaff68668fef6c2e-v0",
"state": "pre-active",
"required_approvals": 1,
"meta": null,
"votes": []
}
]
}
Getting Details of Quorums
To get details of a quorum, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum get --id <QuorumId>
Example Request
ksctl quorum get --id 558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5
Example Response
{
"id": "558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum:558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-05-31T07:47:27.435019Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-05-31T07:47:27.431175Z",
"requester_id": "local|f3ef594a-6b8f-4906-87b6-bd415762115d",
"operation_fingerprint": "c301c3c23252fa3ff3d097e5d00c9000",
"operation": "DeleteKey",
"resource_uri": "kylo:kylo:vault:keys:ks-d707f2d9f313415fbc613e4bffb3ebb810f7235350824f2bbaff68668fef6c2e-v0",
"state": "pre-active",
"required_approvals": 1,
"meta": null,
"votes": []
}
Deleting Quorums
To delete a quorum, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum delete --id <QuorumId>
Example Request
ksctl quorum delete --id 558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5
There will be no response if quorum is deleted successfully.
Note
The requester of the operation is the owner of the associated quorum. Only the requester/owner has permission to delete the quorum.
Revoking Vote for Quorums
To revoke your vote from an already approved quorum, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum revoke --id <QuorumId>
If the number of approvals falls below the required approvals, the quorum moves back to the active
state.
Example Request
ksctl quorum revoke --id 558622f8-bf20-4ded-9f43-e72bfaaf73a5
Example Response
There will be no response if vote is revoked successfully.
Managing Quorum Profiles using ksctl
The following operations can be performed:
Get quorum profile
List/Search quorum profiles
Update quorum profile
Getting Details of the Quorum Profile
To get the details of quorum profile, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum-profiles get --profile-id <ProfileID>
Example Request
ksctl quorum-profiles get --profile-id c4a11fc1-d226-4f19-8d03-5911198e89e5
Example Response
ksctl quorum-profiles get --profile-id "61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613"
{
"id": "61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:deletepolicy-requires-quorum-61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.329875Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:17:40.091664Z",
"name": "DeletePolicy requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"System Admins"
]
}
Getting List of Quorum Profiles
To get the list of all quorum profiles, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum-profiles list
Example Request
ksctl quorum-profiles list
Example Response
{
"skip": 0,
"limit": 10,
"total": 6,
"resources": [
{
"id": "61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:managepolicy-requires-quorum-61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.329875Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.328328Z",
"name": "ManagePolicy requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"admin"
]
},
{
"id": "8966e5c1-7f0b-4bad-b950-6f6aa57c4562",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:restorebackup-requires-quorum-8966e5c1-7f0b-4bad-b950-6f6aa57c4562",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.326206Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.324867Z",
"name": "RestoreBackup requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"Backup Admins",
"Restore Admins"
]
},
{
"id": "04c9a485-dad8-4c76-8779-62a912f179f4",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:addusertogroup-requires-quorum-04c9a485-dad8-4c76-8779-62a912f179f4",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.322876Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.321965Z",
"name": "AddUserToGroup requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"User Admins"
]
},
{
"id": "3f7d5445-c11c-4e18-8415-842a595b2cc9",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:downloadbackupkey-requires-quorum-3f7d5445-c11c-4e18-8415-842a595b2cc9",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.319131Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.317472Z",
"name": "DownloadBackupkey requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"Backup Admins",
"Restore Admins"
]
},
{
"id": "3fa83307-8dc5-4d9f-be94-b25a54ffdc09",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:deletekey-requires-quorum-3fa83307-8dc5-4d9f-be94-b25a54ffdc09",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.31489Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.313633Z",
"name": "DeleteKey requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"Key Admins"
]
},
{
"id": "95506ebb-2fde-48cd-b107-541dc599331e",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:deletedomain-requires-quorum-95506ebb-2fde-48cd-b107-541dc599331e",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.310317Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.307507Z",
"name": "DeleteDomain requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 3,
"voter_groups": [
"Domain Admins"
]
}
]
}
Updating Quorum Profile
To update the quorum profile, run:
Syntax
ksctl quorum-profiles update --profile-id <ProfileID> --approvals <NumberOfApprovals> --voter-groups <VoterGroups>
Example Request 1
ksctl quorum-profiles update --profile-id 61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613 --approvals 2
Example Response 1
{
"id": "61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:managepolicy-requires-quorum-61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.329875Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:19:32.613434Z",
"name": "ManagePolicy requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 2,
"voter_groups": [
"admin"
]
}
Example Request 2
ksctl quorum-profiles update --profile-id 61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613 --approvals 2 --voter-groups 'Domain Admins,Key Admins'
Example Response 2
{
"id": "61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"uri": "kylo:kylo:sallyport:quorum-profile:managepolicy-requires-quorum-61af169c-36b7-42b8-b396-284b92a52613",
"account": "kylo:kylo:admin:accounts:kylo",
"createdAt": "2021-08-20T05:15:50.329875Z",
"updatedAt": "2021-08-20T05:19:32.613434Z",
"name": "ManagePolicy requires quorum",
"required_approvals": 2,
"voter_groups": [
"Domain Admins"
"Key Admins"
]
}