Database Manual / Reference / mongosh Methods / In-Use Encryption

KeyVault.createKey() (mongosh method)

KeyVault.createKey(keyManagementService, customerMasterKey, ["keyAltName"])

Adds a data encryption key to the key vault associated to the database connection. Client-Side Field Level Encryption uses data encryption keys for supporting encryption and decryption of field values.

Returns:The UUID unique identifier of the created data encryption key.

Compatibility

This command is available in deployments hosted in the following environments:

  • MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

Syntax

createKey() has the following syntax:

keyVault = db.getMongo().getKeyVault()

keyVault.createKey(
  keyManagementService,
  customerMasterKey,
  [ "keyAltName" ]
)
ParameterTypeDescription

keyManagementService

string

Required

The Key Management Service (KMS) to use for retrieving the Customer Master Key (CMK). Accepts the following parameters:

If the database connection was not configured with the specified KMS, data encryption key creation fails.

customerMasterKey

string or document

The Customer Master Key (CMK) to use for encrypting the data encryption key. Required if keyManagementService is aws, azure, or gcp.

Provide the CMK as follows depending on your KMS provider:

  • For the Amazon Web Services KMS, specify the full Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the master key as a single string.

  • For the Azure Key Vault KMS, specify a document containing the following key value pairs:

    • keyName - The Azure Key Vault Name
    • keyVaultEndpoint - The DNS name of the Azure Key Vault to use
    • keyVersion - Optional. The version of the key specified in keyName, if applicable

    New in version 5.0.

  • For the Google Cloud Platform KMS, specify a document containing the following key value pairs:

    • projectId - The GCP project name
    • location - The location of the KMS keyring
    • keyRing - The name of the KMS keyring (often 'global')
    • keyName - The name of the key to use
    • keyVersion - Optional. The version of the key specified in keyName, if applicable

    New in version 5.0.

createKey() requests that the KMS encrypt the data encryption key material using the specified CMK. If the CMK does not exist or if the AutoEncryptionOpts configuration does not have sufficient privileges to use the CMK, createKey() returns an error.

This parameter has no effect if keyManagementService is local and can be safely omitted.

keyAltName

array of strings

Optional

The alternative name for the data encryption key. Use keyAltName to improve findability of a specific data encryption key, or as an analog to a comment.

The getKeyVault() method automatically creates a unique index on the keyAltNames field with a partial index filter for only documents where keyAltNames exists.

options

document

Optional

A document that specifies options for the new key. options has the following fields:

  • masterKey: the new master key to encrypt data.
  • keyAltNames: an array of alternate names, one per master key.
  • keyMaterial: bindata used to create the key.

Behavior

Requires Configuring Client-Side Field Level Encryption on Database Connection

The mongosh ClientEncryption methods require a database connection with in-use encryption enabled. If the current database connection was not initiated with in-use encryption enabled, either:

Example

The following example is intended for rapid evaluation of client-side field level encryption. For specific examples of using KeyVault.createKey() with each supported KMS provider, see Create a Data Key.

1

Start mongosh

Start the mongosh client.

mongosh --nodb
2

Generate Your Key

To configure client-side field level encryption for a locally managed key, generate a base64-encoded 96-byte string with no line breaks.

const TEST_LOCAL_KEY = require("crypto").randomBytes(96).toString("base64")
3

Create the Client-Side Field Level Encryption Options

Create the client-side field level encryption options using the generated local key string:

 var autoEncryptionOpts = {
   "keyVaultNamespace" : "encryption.__dataKeys",
   "kmsProviders" : {
     "local" : {
       "key" : BinData(0, TEST_LOCAL_KEY)
     }
   }
 }
4

Create Your Encrypted Client

Use the Mongo() constructor with the client-side field level encryption options configured to create a database connection. Replace the mongodb://myMongo.example.net URI with the connection string URI of the target cluster.

encryptedClient = Mongo(
  "mongodb://myMongo.example.net:27017/?replSetName=myMongo",
   autoEncryptionOpts
)

Retrieve the keyVault object and use the KeyVault.createKey() method to create a new data encryption key using the locally managed key:

keyVault = encryptedClient.getKeyVault()
keyVault.createKey("local", ["data-encryption-key"])

If successful, createKey() returns the UUID of the new data encryption key. To retrieve the new data encryption key document from the key vault, either: