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Bundle: Encryption

The encryption bundle introduces data encryption to RavenDB. By default it uses AES-128 encryption algorithm, but this can be easily changed if needed. Encryption is fully transparent for the end-user, it applies to all documents and in default configuration to all indexes as well.


If you want to setup new database with encryption bundle using the Studio, then please refer to this page.

Four possible configuration options are:
* Raven/Encryption/Algorithm with AssemblyQualifiedName as a value. Additionally provided type must be a subclass of SymmetricAlgorithm from System.Security.Cryptography namespace and must not be an abstract class
* Raven/Encryption/Key a key used for encryption purposes with minimum length of 8 characters, base64 encoded
* Raven/Encryption/KeyBitsPreference the preferred encryption key size in bits * Raven/Encryption/EncryptIndexes Boolean value indicating if the indexes should be encrypted. Default: true


For security reasons all Raven/Encryption/* settings should be placed in SecuredSettings configuration section.

Global configuration

All configuration settings can be setup server-wide by adding them to server configuration file.

Database configuration

All settings can be overridden per database during the database creation process.

		new DatabaseDocument
				Id = "EncryptedDB",
				// Other configuration options omitted for simplicity
				Settings =
						// ...
						{ "Raven/ActiveBundles", "Encryption" }
				SecuredSettings =
						// ...
							"System.Security.Cryptography.DESCryptoServiceProvider, mscorlib, Version=, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"
						{ "Raven/Encryption/Key", "<key_here>" }

Above example demonstrates how to create EncryptedDB with active encryption and with non-default encryption algorithm.


All encryption settings can only be provided when a database is being created. Changing them later will cause DB malfunction.

Encryption key management

In RavenDB, we have two types of configuration: server-wide configuration, which is usually located at the App.config file and a database specific configuration, which is located at the System database. For the App.config file, we provide support for encrypting the file using DPAPI, using the standard .NET config file encryption system. For the database specific values, we provide our own support for encrypting the values using DPAPI.

So, as the consequences of the above:
* Your documents and indexes are encrypted when they are on a disk using strong encryption.
* You can use a a server wide or database specific key for the encryption.
* Your encryption key is guarded using DPAPI.
* The data is safely encrypted on a disk, and the OS guarantees that no one can access the encryption key.


It is your responsibility to backup the encryption key, as there is no way to recover data without it.

Encryption & Backups


By default, backup of an encrypted database contains the encryption key (Raven/Encryption/Key) as a plain text in Database.Document file found in backup. This is required to make RavenDB able to restore the backup on a different machine.

To not include any confidential database settings, please issue a backup request manually with filled database document.

Backup & Restore

  1. Issue a backup request with empty SecuredSettings (where encryption configuration is placed) in DatabaseDocument specified:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/databases/Northwind/admin/backup?incremental=false" \
 -d "{\"BackupLocation\":\"c:\\temp\\backup\\Northwind\",\"DatabaseDocument\":{\"SecuredSettings\":{},\"Settings\":{\"Raven/ActiveBundles\": \"Encryption\"},\"Disabled\":false,\"Id\":null}}"
  1. Notice that Database.Document found in c:\temp\backup\Northwind\ contains exactly the same information that you send in your request, which means that your database cannot be restored until you specify Raven/Encryption/Key in this document.

  2. After filling Raven/Encryption/Key, Raven/Encryption/Algorithm, Raven/Encryption/KeyBitsPreference and Raven/Encryption/EncryptIndexes in your Database.Document you can issue a restore request:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/admin/restore" \
 -d "{\"DatabaseName\":\"NewNorthwind\",\"BackupLocation\":\"c:\\temp\\backup\\Northwind\",\"IndexesLocation\":null,\"RestoreStartTimeout\":null,\"DatabaseLocation\":\"~\\Databases\\NewNorthwind\\\",\"Defrag\":false,\"JournalsLocation\":null}"