How can I connect to Google Cloud SQL over SSL without TLS Client Authentication?

Question

I'm trying to connect to a postgres database on Google Cloud SQL from Safe FME, a GUI-based desktop application that can connect to postgres databases. It supports SSL but Google Cloud SQL apparently requires the use of "TLS Client Authentication" to connect: providing a specific client key and certificate that you download from the Google Cloud Platform dashboard.

Other hosted postgres providers let you connect simply by ticking the "Use SSL" checkbox. Is there a way to do this with Google Cloud SQL? I want a secure connection but it seems like a lot of software doesn't support the "TLS Client Authentication" way of connecting.

Answer 1

SSL protocols have been considered deprecated as of 2015 ( source ), so for the best security you should stick to TLS. (MySQL doesn't use SSL anymore for the reason - this is not specific to Cloud SQL). You can create a SSL/TLS cerificate for your Cloud SQL instance by following the instructions here .

If you have and outdated application that doesn't support a version of TLS that is compatible with Postgres, you can always use the Cloud SQL proxy to encrypt connections.