IntelliJ IDEA
 
2025.1
Shortcuts: macOS
Get IntelliJ IDEA
  1. Database Tools and SQL
  2. Connection to a database
  3. Configure connection
  4. SSH and SSL
Ultimate

Configure SSH and SSL

Last modified: 07 April 2025

To make a connection to a database more secure, some services require SSH or SSL usage.

SSL

The following procedure describes the SSL configuration that suits most databases. For some databases, you need to use another approach for a successful connection. You can see configuration examples for Cassandra and Heroku Postgres in the DataGrip documentation.

Connect to a database with SSL

  1. Open data source properties. You can open data source properties by using one of the following options:

    • In the Database tool window (View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the Data Source Properties icon The Data Source Properties icon.

    • Press ⌘Сmd0I.

  2. On the Data Sources tab, select a data source that you want to modify.

  3. Click the SSH/SSL tab and select the Use SSL checkbox.

  4. In the CA file field, navigate to the CA certificate file (for example, mssql.pem).

  5. You can leave the certificate file fields empty and use a truststore to obtain a required certificate from the certificates that it contains. To do that, tick the Use truststore checkbox and select the truststore that you want to use.

    • IDE: Use the certificates that are accepted by the IDE. You can add new accepted certificates in Tools | Server Certificates.

    • JAVA: Use JAVA truststore certificates.

    • System: Use System truststore certificates.

  6. In the Client certificate file field, navigate to the client certificate file (for example, client-cert.pem).

  7. In the Client key file field, navigate to the client key file (for example, client-key.pem).

  8. From the Mode list, select the verification mode:

    Require

    Verifies that the server recognizes the client certificate, if the certificate is provided.

    Verify CA

    • Verifies that the server recognizes the client certificate, if the certificate is provided.

    • Verifies the server by checking the certificate chain up to the root certificate that is stored on the client.

    Full Verification

    • Verifies that the server recognizes the client certificate, if the certificate is provided.

    • Verifies the server by checking the certificate chain up to the root certificate that is stored on the client.

    • Verifies the server host to ensure that it matches the name stored in the server certificate.

    The SSL connection fails if either one of the certificates cannot be verified.

  9. To ensure that the connection to the data source is successful, click Test Connection.

    Connect to a database with SSL

note

It is recommended to use PEM certificates.

note

With self-signed certificates and in some cases with certificates issued by the trusted root entity, you might experience errors when you use the latest JDBC driver version. The SSL connection might fail if your Java keystore does not accept the certificate chains. As a temporary solution, try to downgrade the JDBC driver (for example, for the MySQL connector, you need to switch to the 5.1.40 version.)

Disable SSL connection to a database

  1. Open data source properties. You can open data source properties by using one of the following options:

    • In the Database tool window (View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the Data Source Properties icon The Data Source Properties icon.

    • Press ⌘Сmd0I.

  2. On the Data Sources tab, select a data source that you want to modify.

  3. Click the SSH/SSL tab and clear the Use SSL checkbox.

  4. Click Apply.

Copy SSL settings from other data sources

If you configured SSL settings for one data source, you can copy them for another data source.

  1. Open data source properties. You can open data source properties by using one of the following options:

    • In the Database tool window (View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the Data Source Properties icon The Data Source Properties icon.

    • Press ⌘Сmd0I.

  2. On the Data Sources tab, select a data source that you want to modify.

  3. Click the SSH/SSL tab and select the Use SSL checkbox.

  4. Click the Copy from link and select the configuration that you want to copy.

SSH

Secure Shell or SSH is a network protocol that is used to encrypt a connection between a client and a server.

In IntelliJ IDEA, you can create an SSH connection one of the following ways:

IntelliJ IDEA SSH tunnel

IntelliJ IDEA can create an SSH tunnel based on the SSH configuration that you set. To access the SSH configuration settings, press ⌘Сmd0, to open settings and select Tools | SSH Configuration.

To use an SSH tunnel for the data source, select the Use SSH tunnel checkbox in the SSH/SSL tab of Data Sources and Drivers dialog ( ⌘Сmd0I) .

note

In most cases, you do not need to modify the General tab settings after setting the SSH configuration in SSH/SSL tab, as IntelliJ IDEA will connect to the local end of the SSH tunnel. The exception is when you create an SSH tunnel manually, in that case you need to set localhost as Host on the General tab.

Upon the connection, the SSH tunnel hostname is resolved on the machine with SSH server, as the server establishes connection to a database.

All created SSH connections are shared between all the data sources that you have in a project. If you do not want to share a connection between projects, select the Visible only for this project checkbox in the SSH connection settings.

Connect to a database with SSH

  1. Open data source properties. You can open data source properties by using one of the following options:

    • In the Database tool window (View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the Data Source Properties icon The Data Source Properties icon.

    • Press ⌘Сmd0I.

  2. Select a data source profile where you want to change connection settings.

  3. Click the SSH/SSL tab and select the Use SSH tunnel checkbox.

  4. Click the Add SSH configuration button (the Add SSH configuration).

  5. In the SSH dialog, click the Add button.

  6. If you do not want to share the configuration between projects, select the Visible only for this project checkbox.

  7. In Host, Username, and Port fields, specify your connection details.

  8. From the Authentication type list, you can select an authentication method:

    • Password: Access the host with a password. To save the password in IntelliJ IDEA, select the Save password checkbox.

    • Key pair (OpenSSH or PuTTY): Use SSH authentication with a key pair. To apply this authentication method, you must have a private key on the client machine and a public key on the remote server. IntelliJ IDEA supports private keys that are generated with the OpenSSH utility.

      Specify the path to the file where your private key is stored and type the passphrase (if any) in the corresponding fields. To have IntelliJ IDEA remember the passphrase, select the Save passphrase checkbox.

    • OpenSSH config and authentication agent: Use a credentials helper application that manages your SSH keys, such as ssh-agent.

  9. Click OK to confirm the new SSH configuration settings.

  10. In the Local port field of Data Sources and Drivers dialog, specify the local port number from which you want to forward the connection. Otherwise, IntelliJ IDEA selects the port dynamically.

SSH settings of a data source

tip

For more information about working with SSH keys, refer to the Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent tutorial.

Disable SSH connection to a database

  1. Open data source properties. You can open data source properties by using one of the following options:

    • In the Database tool window (View | Tool Windows | Database) , click the Data Source Properties icon The Data Source Properties icon.

    • Press ⌘Сmd0I.

  2. Select a data source profile where you want to change connection settings.

  3. Click the SSH/SSL tab and clear the Use SSH tunnel checkbox.

  4. Click Apply.

Create SSH tunnel manually