-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 1.8k
Commit
This commit does not belong to any branch on this repository, and may belong to a fork outside of the repository.
Turn Architecture section intro into an overview
Closes #46015 While the Teleport docs do not include an architecture overview page, there is a section intro for `docs/pages/reference/architecture` that includes a table of contents. This change turns that page into an architectural overview, providing context around each link to a child architecture page.
- Loading branch information
Showing
1 changed file
with
127 additions
and
6 deletions.
There are no files selected for viewing
This file contains bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change |
---|---|---|
@@ -1,10 +1,131 @@ | ||
--- | ||
title: Teleport Architecture Guides | ||
description: Get detailed information about how Teleport works | ||
title: Teleport Architecture | ||
description: Provides detailed information about how Teleport works. | ||
--- | ||
|
||
In this section, you will find detailed information about Teleport's internal | ||
architecture. Read these guides if you are interested in learning how Teleport | ||
works. | ||
This guide explains the technical architecture of Teleport. Before reading this | ||
guide, we recommend that you read the [Core Concepts](../../core-concepts.mdx) | ||
page, which describes the components of a Teleport cluster. | ||
|
||
(!toc!) | ||
## Teleport control plane | ||
|
||
Teleport consists of a **control plane** that runs the Teleport Auth Service and | ||
Teleport Proxy Service, and a **data plane** that consists of Teleport Agents, | ||
Machine ID Bots, and Auth Service API clients like the Event Handler and Access | ||
Request plugins. The data plane communicates with both your infrastructure and | ||
the control plane. Your infrastructure communicates only with the data plane. | ||
|
||
On Teleport Enterprise (Cloud), the control plane is fully managed on Teleport | ||
infrastructure. Read about [Teleport Enterprise (Cloud) | ||
Architecture](teleport-cloud-architecture.mdx). | ||
|
||
### Teleport Auth Service | ||
|
||
The Teleport Auth Service performs three main functions: | ||
- **Maintains certificate authorities** that sign host and client certificates | ||
for components of your Teleport cluster as well as (for certain self-hosted | ||
resources) your own infrastructure. | ||
- **Stores cluster configurations** as dynamic resources, including roles, local | ||
users, and certain kinds of Teleport-protected infrastructure resources. | ||
- **Collects cluster data** such as audit events and session recordings. | ||
|
||
Cluster components communicate with the Auth Service to manage certificates, | ||
dynamic resources, audit events, and session recordings through a [gRPC | ||
API](api-architecture.mdx). | ||
|
||
For more information about the Teleport Auth Service, read the following guides: | ||
|
||
- [Authentication](authentication.mdx) | ||
- [Authorization](authorization.mdx) | ||
|
||
### Teleport Proxy Service | ||
|
||
The Teleport Proxy Service enables components in the Teleport data plane to | ||
communicate securely with the Teleport Auth Service. With the Proxy Service, | ||
users can use the public internet to access infrastructure in private networks. | ||
|
||
The Proxy Service implements an SSH server. Teleport Agents establish reverse | ||
tunnels with the SSH server to receive traffic from (and return traffic to) | ||
Teleport users. Auth Service clients like the Event Handler and Access Request | ||
plugins also route traffic through the Proxy Service's SSH server, and | ||
authenticate to the Proxy Service with an SSH client certificate. | ||
|
||
The Proxy Service serves the Teleport Web UI, which in Teleport Enterprise | ||
(Cloud), is available at the address of your Teleport account (e.g., | ||
`example.teleport.sh`). | ||
|
||
Read more about [Teleport Proxy Service Architecture](proxy.mdx). You can also | ||
read about the architecture of Teleport Proxy Service features: | ||
|
||
- [TLS Routing](tls-routing.mdx) | ||
- [Proxy Peering](proxy-peering.mdx) | ||
|
||
## Enrolling resources | ||
|
||
Administrators can **enroll** infrastructure resources with a Teleport cluster | ||
to provide secure access, RBAC, and auditing. There are three ways to enroll | ||
infrastructure resources with a Teleport cluster: | ||
|
||
- **Teleport Agents** proxy traffic from human users to and from | ||
Teleport-protected infrastructure resources. | ||
- **Machine ID Bots** receive short-lived credentials from the `tbot` binary so | ||
service accounts can access infrastructure. | ||
- **Trusted clusters** allow a user of one Teleport cluster to access | ||
infrastructure that is enrolled with another Teleport cluster by federating | ||
trust across multiple Teleport clusters. | ||
|
||
### Teleport Agents | ||
|
||
Teleport Agents proxy traffic from users to resources in your infrastructure. | ||
Agents are instances of the `teleport` binary configured to run data plane | ||
services, e.g., the Teleport SSH Service and Teleport Kubernetes Service, and | ||
administrators deploy Agents on their own infrastructure. | ||
|
||
Agents verify a user's certificate against a certificate authority maintained by | ||
the Teleport Auth Service. Since a user's Teleport roles are encoded in their | ||
certificate, a Teleport Agent can check a user's Teleport roles and permit or | ||
deny access to a resource. | ||
|
||
Agents must establish trust with the Teleport Auth Service when first joining a | ||
cluster, and there is are [variety of | ||
methods](../enroll-resources/agents/join-services-to-your-cluster.mdx) that | ||
Agents use for this. | ||
|
||
Read more about [Teleport Agent Architecture](agents.mdx). You can also read | ||
about the architecture of Teleport Agent features: | ||
|
||
- [Automatic Agent updates](agent-update-management.mdx): How a | ||
Teleport cluster ensures that Agents run the most up-to-date version of the | ||
`teleport` binary. | ||
- [Automatically discovering Kubernetes | ||
applications](docs/pages/reference/architecture//kubernetes-applications-architecture.mdx): | ||
The Teleport Discovery Service queries your Kubernetes cluster and registers | ||
applications with the Teleport Auth Service. | ||
- [Session recordings](session-recording.mdx): Teleport Agents record user | ||
sessions and send the data to the Auth Service for storage. | ||
|
||
### Machine ID | ||
|
||
Machine ID is a Teleport system that enables automated services to access | ||
Teleport-protected infrastructure with regularly updated credentials. | ||
Administrators register a Bot user with Teleport that, like a human user, is | ||
assigned Teleport roles. | ||
|
||
Instances of the `tbot` binary communicate with the Teleport Auth Service to | ||
continuously refresh credentials. As with Agents, administrators must deploy | ||
`tbot` on their own infrastructure, including on CI/CD platforms such as GitHub | ||
Actions. The [join methods](../enroll-resources/machine-id/deployment.mdx) for | ||
`tbot` differ from those for Agents. | ||
|
||
Read more about [Machine ID Architecture](machine-id-architecture.mdx). | ||
|
||
### Trusted clusters | ||
|
||
On self-hosted Teleport clusters, you can federate access between Teleport | ||
clusters by enrolling a **trusted cluster** with the Teleport Auth Service. | ||
Users can access resources in a trusted cluster, also called a **leaf cluster** | ||
, by authenticating with a **root cluster**. | ||
|
||
When an administrator joins a leaf cluster to a root cluster, Auth Service | ||
instances of the two clusters communicate to establish trust. Read more about | ||
[Trusted Cluster Architecture](trustedclusters.mdx). |