Grant access using API keys

Instead of using usernames and passwords, you can use API keys to grant access to Elasticsearch resources. You can set API keys to expire at a certain time, and you can explicitly invalidate them. Any user with the manage_api_key or manage_own_api_key cluster privilege can create API keys.

APM Server instances typically send both collected data and monitoring information to Elasticsearch. If you are sending both to the same cluster, you can use the same API key. For different clusters, you need to use an API key per cluster.

In Kibana, navigate to Stack Management > API keys and click Create API key.

Enter a name for your API key and select Restrict privileges. In the role descriptors box, assign the appropriate privileges to the new API key. For example:

{
    "apm_writer": {
        "cluster": ["monitor"],
        "index": [
            {
                "names": ["traces-apm*","logs-apm*", "metrics-apm*"],
                "privileges": ["auto_configure", "create_doc"]
            }
        ]
    },
    "apm_sourcemap": {
        "index": [
            {
                "names": [".apm-source-map"],
                "privileges": ["read"]
            }
        ]
    },
    "apm_agentcfg": {
        "index": [
            {
                "names": [".apm-agent-configuration"],
                "privileges": ["read"],
                "allow_restricted_indices": true
            }
        ]
    }
}

To set an expiration date for the API key, select Expire after time and input the lifetime of the API key in days.

Click Create API key. In the dropdown, switch to Beats and copy the API key.

You can now use this API key in your apm-server.yml configuration file:

output.elasticsearch:
  api_key: TiNAGG4BaaMdaH1tRfuU:KnR6yE41RrSowb0kQ0HWoA 

In Kibana, navigate to Stack Management > API keys and click Create API key.

Enter a name for your API key and select Restrict privileges. In the role descriptors box, assign the appropriate privileges to the new API key. For example:

{
    "apm_monitoring": {
        "index": [
            {
                "names": [".monitoring-beats-*"],
                "privileges": ["create_index", "create_doc"]
            }
      ]
    }
}

To set an expiration date for the API key, select Expire after time and input the lifetime of the API key in days.

Click Create API key. In the dropdown, switch to Beats and copy the API key.

You can now use this API key in your apm-server.yml configuration file like this:

monitoring.elasticsearch:
  api_key: TiNAGG4BaaMdaH1tRfuU:KnR6yE41RrSowb0kQ0HWoA 

You can also use Elasticsearch’s Create API key API to create a new API key. For example:

POST /_security/api_key
{
  "name": "apm_host001", 
  "role_descriptors": {
    "apm_writer": { 
      "cluster": ["monitor"],
      "index": [
        {
          "names": ["traces-apm*","logs-apm*", "metrics-apm*"],
          "privileges": ["auto_configure", "create_doc"]
        }
      ]
    },
    "apm_sourcemap": {
      "index": [
        {
          "names": [".apm-source-map"],
          "privileges": ["read"]
        }
      ]
    },
    "apm_agentcfg": {
      "index": [
        {
          "names": [".apm-agent-configuration"],
          "privileges": ["read"],
          "allow_restricted_indices": true
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

See the Create API key reference for more information.

See the Elasticsearch API key documentation for more information: