Walkthrough: Configuring Always Encrypted for the Sitecore Cortex Processing databases using Windows Key Store

Current version: 10.2

Applies to

Sitecore Cortex™ Processing Storage database, Sitecore Cortex Processing Tasks database

Sitecore Installation Framework

Always Encrypted is not enabled by default.

Sitecore Azure Toolkit

Always Encrypted is not enabled by default.

The Sitecore Cortex Processing Tasks database and the Sitecore Cortex Processing Storage database support the Always Encrypted feature for columns that contain sensitive data. You can enable Always Encrypted for existing databases using Windows Key Store.

This walkthrough tells you how to perform the following tasks:

  • Create keys

  • Configure Sitecore Cortex Processing roles

  • Configure Always Encrypted for the Tasks and Storage database

Create keys

Refer to Microsoft’s Always Encrypted documentation for information about creating and using Column Master Keys (CMK) and Column Encryption Keys (CEK). The overall steps are:

Note

If you are using Azure Web App Services but not the Azure Key Vault, see Using SQL Always Encrypted with Azure Web App Service.

Configure Sitecore Cortex Processing roles

You must complete the following steps on every instance of the roles that access the Cortex Processing Tasks and Cortex Processing Storage databases:

  • Sitecore Cortex Processing Engine

  • Sitecore Cortex Processing service

To configure the Sitecore Cortex Processing roles to use Always Encrypted:

  1. Set the SqlCommandColumnEncryptionEnabled element to true in the following configuration files for the Sitecore Cortex Processing service roles:

    • <role-root>\App_Data\Config\Sitecore\Processing\sc.Processing.Engine.Storage.Sql.xml (enables encryption of blob storage)

  2. Set the SqlCommandColumnEncryptionEnabled element to true in the following configuration files for the Sitecore Cortex Processing Engine:

    • <role-root>\App_Data\Config\Sitecore\Processing\sc.Processing.Engine.Cursors.Sql.xml (enables encryption of cursors)

    • <role-root>\App_Data\Config\Sitecore\Processing\sc.Processing.Engine.Storage.Sql.xml (enables encryption of blob storage)

    • <role-root>\App_Data\Config\Sitecore\Processing\sc.Processing.Engine.Tasks.Sql.xml (enables encryption of tasks)

    Note

    In the default topologies, the Sitecore Cortex Processing Engine is located in a sub-folder in the Sitecore Cortex Processing service folder. All Sitecore Cortex Processing Engine configuration files are located under: <processing-service-root>\App_data\jobs\continuous\ProcessingEngine\App_Data\Config\Sitecore\Processing

Configure Always Encrypted for the Tasks and Storage database

Important

These instructions do not apply to the xDB Processing Tasks and xDB Processing Pools databases.

To configure Always Encrypted for the Sitecore Cortex™ Processing Storage and Sitecore Cortex Processing Tasks databases:

  1. Configure Always Encrypted for the following columns with the corresponding encryption types: ·      

    Database

    Column

    Encryption Type

    Cortex Processing Tasks database

    [Cursors].[Bookmark]

    RANDOMIZED

    [Tasks].[Options]

    RANDOMIZED

    Cortex Processing Storage database

    [Blobs].[Value]

    RANDOMIZED

  2. Grant the following permissions to the restricted user (processingengineuser by default):

    RequestResponse
    GRANT VIEW ANY COLUMN MASTER KEY DEFINITION TO [<restricted_user>]
    GRANT VIEW ANY COLUMN ENCRYPTION KEY DEFINITION TO [restricted_user]

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