Athena (IAM)

Last modified on February 5, 2025

Overview

A datasource consists of a database resource and the credentials used to access it. This guide describes how to add an Athena database as a datasource in the StrongDM Admin UI using IAM.

Prerequisites

To add a datasource, make sure you have met the following prerequisites:

Properly configure an account for your database resource. If you choose to store credentials for the resource with StrongDM, have those credentials ready. When not using StrongDM, set up a Secret Store integration and be able to enter the location of the secrets required to access the resource.
The hostname or endpoint you enter for your resource must be accessible by at least one gateway or relay. To verify this, log in to the gateway or relay and use the nc -zv <YOUR_HOSTNAME> <YOUR_PORT> Netcat command. For example, use nc -zv testdb-01.fancy.org 5432. If your gateway server can connect to this hostname, you can proceed.

Netcat is a network analysis tool for checking various hostnames and ports by either sending data (a ping) or checking for listeners on ports. The command in the aforementioned example uses the -z flag to check for listeners without sending data and the -v flag to show verbose output. If you do not have Netcat, you can use a package manager such as APT (Advanced Package Tool) to install it. On Linux-based distributions, run apt-get install netcat.

Resource Setup

Some setup is required to prepare an Athena (IAM) resource to receive connections via StrongDM. Specifically, you will need to create an IAM role similar to the example below and attach that role to the EC2 instance you are using for your node (gateway or relay).

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "VisualEditor0",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:PutObject",
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:ListBucket",
        "s3:CreateBucket",
        "s3:GetBucketLocation",
        "s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads",
        "s3:ListMultipartUploadParts",
        "s3:AbortMultipartUpload"
      ],
      "Resource": [
        "*"
      ]
    },
    {
      "Sid": "VisualEditor1",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "athena:GetQueryExecution",
        "athena:GetTables",
        "athena:GetDatabase",
        "athena:ListNamedQueries",
        "athena:StartQueryExecution"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Sid": "VisualEditor2",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "glue:GetSchemaVersion",
        "glue:ListSchemaVersions",
        "glue:GetTable"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

For further help, consult the Athena IAM documentation.

Add a Datasource

To add your Athena (IAM) database as a StrongDM resource, use the following steps.

Log in to the StrongDM Admin UI.
Go to Resources > Datasources.
Click Add datasource.
Select Athena (IAM) as the Datasource Type and set other configuration properties for your new database resource.
Complete all required fields.
Click Create to save the resource.
Click the resource name to view status, diagnostic information, and setting details.

Resource properties

Configuration properties are visible when you add a datasource or when you click to view its settings. The following table describes the settings available for your Athena (IAM) database.

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	Select Athena (IAM)
Hostname	Required	Hostname for your resource; must be accessible to a gateway or relay
Port	Required	Port to use when connecting to your Athena (IAM) database; default port value is 5432
Port Override	Read only	Automatically generated with a value between 1024-59999 as long as that port is not used by another resource; preferred port can be modified later under Settings > Port Overrides
Secret Store	Optional	Credential store location; defaults to Strong Vault; learn more about Secret Store options
AWS S3 Output Location	Required	Enter the Amazon S3 output location (for example, `s3://aws-athena-query-results-123456789012-us-east-1/MyInsertQuery/2024/10/04/abc1234d-5efg-67hi-jklm-89n0op12qr34`)
Assume Role External ID	Optional	External ID role to assume after login (for example `12345`)
Assume Role ARN	Optional	Role ARN, such as `arn:aws:iam::000000000000:role/RoleName`, that allows users accessing this resource to assume a role using AWS AssumeRole functionality
Resource Tags	Optional	Datasource tags consisting of key-value pairs `<KEY>=<VALUE>` (for example, `env=dev`)

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.

Athena (IAM)

Overview #

Prerequisites #

Resource Setup #

Add a Datasource #

Resource properties #

Secret Store options #

Resource status #