Aerospike

Learn how to add an Aerospike database as a resource in StrongDM. When done, you will be able to use the StrongDM Desktop application or StrongDM CLI to connect to Aerospike.

Overview

This guide outlines the configuration steps for adding an Aerospike database as a resource in StrongDM.

When the resource is added, StrongDM proxies client connections through a node (gateway, relay, or proxy cluster). This enables centralized access control, credential management, and audit logging. StrongDM supports standard Aerospike clients and drivers that use the Aerospike wire protocol.

To add the resource to StrongDM, you will need the database hostname, port, and a valid set of credentials. Optionally, you can store these credentials in a supported secrets manager and reference them from within StrongDM. The resource's server must be reachable from the selected StrongDM node and configured to accept connections from that node’s IP or network.

Use this guide to complete all necessary preparations to add this resource to your StrongDM environment; input the correct properties in the Admin UI, CLI, SDKs, or Terraform provider; and test for a successful connection. When done, you will be able to use the StrongDM Desktop application or CLI to connect to Aerospike.

For general information about how to add a database as a resource in StrongDM, see our main guide, Add a Datasource.

Authentication

The Aerospike datasource type supports both no-authentication (that is, where the Username and Password fields are left blank) and password-based authentication.

TLS standard and mutual (mTLS/PKI) authentication and external authentication (LDAP) are not supported.

Supported Versions and Clients

StrongDM supports Aerospike Server Enterprise and Standard Edition versions 5.5 through 8.0, but 6.4 or later is recommended. The Community Edition is also supported but not recommended.

StrongDM is generally compatible with all Aerospike clients and drivers. To ensure successful connections to Aerospike via StrongDM, we recommend the following best practices:

• Use recent, actively maintained versions of your Aerospike client.

• Avoid custom or unsupported authentication mechanisms unless StrongDM explicitly supports them.

• Test client connections in a non-production environment first, especially if using GUI tools or custom drivers.

Prerequisites

To add your resource in StrongDM, you need to meet several technical and configuration prerequisites. Please ensure that the following requirements are met.

In StrongDM, you must have the following:

• Administrator permission level

• At least one operational StrongDM node (gateway, relay, or proxy cluster) deployed in a location that can reach the Aerospike host and port (the default port is 3000)

• Valid Aerospike credentials (username and password, or appropriate authentication key)

• If using secrets management tools for storing your database credentials, a Secret Store configured in StrongDM

• Connection tools such as the Aerospike Client or aql to test the connection to the resource independently of StrongDM, if needed

To verify that the resource is accessible by the node, log in to the gateway or relay and use Netcat: nc -zv <HOSTNAME> <PORT> (in this example, nc -zv testdb-01.fancy.org 3306). If your gateway server can connect to this hostname, proceed.

Netcat is a tool for checking various hostnames and ports by either sending data (a ping) or checking for listeners on the ports. The command in the aforementioned example use "-z" to check for listeners without sending data and "-v" to show verbose output. If you don't have Netcat, you can install the Netcat package with whatever package manager you are using, such as "apt-get install netcat".

On the Aerospike side, you must have the following:

• An Aerospike user with appropriate privileges (read-only or admin depending on your use case)

• Authentication information, including the host, port, and credentials

• TLS/SSL set up to enable encryption, if required by your organization

• Cloud-specific adjustments, if necessary, such as firewall rules and VPC configuration to allow StrongDM access

• Ability to test reachability from the StrongDM node using tools such as aql, asadm, or Netcat, and confirm DNS resolution

Resource Management in StrongDM

After all prerequisites and prep work is done, you are ready to add the resource to StrongDM. This section provides instructions for adding the resource in either the StrongDM Admin UI, CLI, Terraform provider, or SDKs.

Admin UI

Set up and Manage With the Admin UI

If using the Admin UI to add Aerospike as a resource to StrongDM, use the following steps.

1. Log in to the StrongDM Admin UI.

2. Go to Resources > Datasources.

3. Click Add datasource.

4. For Datasource Type, select Aerospike.

5. Complete all required configuration properties for your selected datasource type.

6. Click Create to save the resource.

7. Click the resource name to view status, diagnostic information, and setting details.

CLI

Set up and Manage With the CLI

This section provides an example of how to configure and manage the resource using the StrongDM CLI. For more information and examples, please see the CLI Reference documentation.

# Add an Aerospike datasource
sdm admin datasources add aerospike aerospike-prod
  --hostname="aerospike-01.example.org"
  --port="3000"
  --username="sdm_user"
  --password="secret"
  --bind-interface="127.0.0.1"
  --egress-filter="tag:region=us-east-1"
  --port-override="12345"
  --proxy-cluster-id="n-1a2b345c67890123"
  --secret-store-id="se-e1b2"
  --subdomain="aerospike-prod"
  --tags="region=west,env=production"
  --timeout="30s"
  --use-services-alternate

Terraform

Set up and Manage With Terraform

This section provides an example of how to configure and manage the resource using the Terraform provider. For more information and examples, please see the Terraform provider documentation.

# Install StrongDM provider
terraform {
  required_providers {
    sdm = {
      source  = "strongdm/sdm"
      version = "5.1.0"
    }
  }
}

# Configure StrongDM provider
provider "sdm" {
  # Add API access key and secret key from Admin UI
  api_access_key = "njjSn...5hM"
  api_secret_key = "ziG...="
}

# Create Aerospike resource
resource "sdm_aerospike" "aerospike_prod" {
  name                   = "aerospike-prod"
  hostname               = "aerospike-01.example.org"
  port                   = 3000
  username               = "sdm_user"
  password               = "secret"
  bind_interface         = "127.0.0.1"
  egress_filter          = "tag:region=us-east-1"
  port_override          = 12345
  proxy_cluster_id       = "n-1a2b345c67890123"
  secret_store_id        = "se-e1b2"
  subdomain              = "aerospike-prod"
  use_services_alternate = true
  tags = {
    region = "west"
    env    = "production"
  }
}

SDKs

Set up and manage with SDKs

In addition to the Admin UI, CLI, and Terraform, you may configure and manage your resource with any of the following SDK options: Go, Java, Python, and Ruby. Please see the following references for more information and examples.

Language	Reference	GitHub	Examples
Go	pkg.go.dev	strongdm-sdk-go	Go SDK Examples
Java	javadoc	strongdm-sdk-java	Java SDK Examples
Python	pdocs	strongdm-sdk-python	Python SDK Examples
Ruby	RubyDoc	strongdm-sdk-ruby	Ruby SDK Examples

Configuration Properties

The following configuration properties are required to define an Aerospike datasource in StrongDM. These settings control how StrongDM connects to the database, authenticates the connection, and optionally uses encryption or secret management. Each property must be correctly configured to ensure connectivity and access enforcement through StrongDM.

Property	Requirement	Description
Display Name	Required	Meaningful name to display the resource throughout StrongDM; exclude special characters like quotes (") or angle brackets (< or >)
Datasource Type	Required	Aerospike
Proxy Cluster	Required	Defaults to "None (use gateways)"; if using proxy clusters, select the appropriate cluster to proxy traffic to this resource
Hostname	Required	Hostname for the resource; must be accessible to a gateway or relay
Port	Required	Port to use when connecting to the resource; default port value is 3000
Connectivity Mode	Required	Set either Virtual Networking Mode, which lets users connect to the resource with a software-defined, IP-based network; or Loopback Mode, which allows users to connect to the resource using the local loopback adapter in their operating system
IP Address	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the connectivity mode, an IP address value in the range 100.64.0.1 to 100.127.255.252 (default 100.64.100.100); optionally change the default value for Virtual Networking Mode to your preferred IP address value, as long as it's a valid IP address defined by your organization settings; edit either on this form or later on the Admin UI's Port Overrides page after the resource is created; if Loopback Mode is the connectivity mode, the IP address value must be within the range of 127.0.0.1 to 127.0.0.34
Port Override	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the connectivity mode, a port value between 1 and 65535 that is not already in use by another resource; if Loopback Mode is the connectivity mode, a port value between 1024 to 64999 that is not already in use by another resource; when left empty, the system assigns the default port to this resource; preferred port also can be modified later from the Port Overrides settings
DNS	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the connectivity mode, a unique hostname alias for this resource; when set, causes the desktop app to display this resource's human-readable DNS name (for example, k8s.my-organization-name) instead of the bind address that includes IP address and port (for example, 100.64.100.100:5432)
Database	Required	Database name you would like to connect to using this datasource
Secret Store	Optional	Credential store location; defaults to Strong Vault
Username	Required	Username to utilize when connecting to this datasource; displays when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization or when Strong Vault serves as the Secret Store type
Password	Required	Password for the user connecting to this datasource; displays when Secret Store integration is not configured for your organization or when Strong Vault serves as the Secret Store type
Username (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store location (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName where key argument is optional); required when using a non-StrongDM Secret Store type
Password (path)	Required	Path to the secret in your Secret Store location (for example, path/to/credential?key=optionalKeyName where key argument is optional); required when using a non-StrongDM Secret Store
Use Aerospike Services Alternates	Optional	When set, enables connection to alternate service addresses and ports defined by Aerospike server configuration files
Resource Tags	Optional	Datasource Tags consisting of key-value pairs <KEY>=<VALUE> (for example, env=dev)

The Use Aerospike Services Alternate option is not enabled by default but may be required if the "alternate" external service addresses should be used to connect to the Aerospike server.

Secret Store options

By default, datasource credentials are stored in StrongDM. However, these credentials can also be saved in a secrets management tool.

Non-StrongDM options appear in the Secret Store dropdown if they are created under Network > Secret Stores. When you select another Secret Store type, its unique properties display. For more details, see Configure Secret Store Integrations.

Resource status

After a resource is created, the Admin UI displays that resource as unhealthy until the healthchecks run successfully. When the resource is ready, the Health icon indicates a positive, green status.

When the resource does not display a positive status, click the resource name to go to the Diagnostics tab and check for errors.

Test the Connection

After you have added your resource in StrongDM, follow these steps to verify that it’s working correctly.

1. Assign yourself access by ensuring that your user or role has access to the resource. In the StrongDM Admin UI, go to Access > Roles, and verify that the resource is attached to a role you’re in.

2. In the CLI, run sdm status to list the available datasources. Confirm that the resource is available.

3. Start a session to the resource:

   sdm connect aerospike-prod

   This prepares your local environment to connect through StrongDM. See the CLI Reference documentation for details on sdm connect.

4. Test with an Aerospike client, such as aql, to confirm functionality. For example, list namespaces:

   aql
   aql> show namespaces

   You should see one or more namespaces returned if connectivity and auth are working.

5. In the StrongDM Admin UI, check Logs > Queries (and Logs > Connections) to verify your session and commands were captured.

If you don’t see the resource in sdm status, or aql can’t list namespaces:

• Re-check your role assignment and resource properties in the StrongDM Admin UI.

• Ensure that the node (gateway/relay/proxy cluster) can reach the Aerospike host and port from its network.

• Verify your Aerospike credentials match what you configured in StrongDM.

• Re-run sdm connect and review CLI output; if needed, consult the CLI Reference for flags and limits.

When these steps succeed, you’re ready to connect to your resource through StrongDM.

Help

If you encounter issues, please consult the StrongDM Help Center.

Be prepared to provide the following information to StrongDM Support, so that they can inspect logs and confirm node and resource health:

• Resource name or ID

• CLI error output or logs

• Node name and region

• Timestamps of failed attempts