S3 backup permissions

support
#1

I note that S3 backup can be enabled.

I’m not entirely sure about the S3 permissions but is there a way to only allow one admin (me) to view and set the two keys required for this? Or do all admins have the rights to access the S3 keys?

#2

All admins have access to everything. If you cannot trust your admin(s) with S3 keys, don’t make them admins. Moderators do not have access to site settings, and therefore are a good alternative if you need users to have control over content on the forums, but not settings.

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#3

Well I was hoping that there would be a way to display encrypted S3 keys such as used with Travis-ci and ones GitHub .travis.yml repository file. The decryption key could be stored in the file system. It just creates an extra layer of security.

#4

Do the backup logs contain the S3 keys? If not , then I might look at encrypting them.

#5

Backups contain the database, and the site settings are all on the database.

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#6

If you are concerned about the level of S3 access you are giving away by putting S3 keys in plaintext in Discourse backups, you could create a user which is specifically for backup of that discourse instance and has access to nothing else on AWS. (I got most of this policy from various blogs but I can’t remember where exactly so unfortunately I can’t give credit)

  • create an S3 bucket in the S3 panel and give it any name - you’ll need this name later
  • create an AWS user in the IAM panel
  • choose any user name you like, ideally something that will remind you what that user can access and why
  • choose Access type - programmatic access
  • Don’t add the user to any groups
  • When setting permissions, select ‘Attach existing policies directly’ and then click the button ‘Create policy’
  • in the JSON editor, paste this policy, replacing NAME_OF_YOUR_S3_BUCKET with the actual name of your S3 backup bucket.
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "s3:ListAllMyBuckets",
            "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "s3:*",
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:s3:::NAME_OF_YOUR_S3_BUCKET",
                "arn:aws:s3:::NAME_OF_YOUR_S3_BUCKET/*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}
  • review and save the policy, you also are asked to name the policy, which means you can use it for other single-access s3 setups if you need to.
  • get the AWS credentials/keys for that user and put them in Discourse, along with the name of the S3 bucket
  • you should now be able to perform a backup to your specified bucket, but that user can’t do anything else on AWS.
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