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On this page
  • Configuration via environment variables
  • Configuration via vaults entity
  • Examples
  • Vault configuration options
Kong Gateway
3.1.x
  • Home
  • Kong Gateway
  • Kong Enterprise
  • Secrets Management
  • Backends
  • HashiCorp Vault
You are browsing documentation for an outdated version. See the latest documentation here.

HashiCorp Vault

HashiCorp Vault can be configured with environment variables or with a Vault entity.

Configuration via environment variables

Configure the following environment variables on your Kong Gateway data plane:

Static Vault token authentication:

export KONG_VAULT_HCV_PROTOCOL=<protocol(http|https)>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_HOST=<hostname>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_PORT=<portnumber>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_MOUNT=<mountpoint>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_KV=<v1|v2>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_AUTH_METHOD=token
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_TOKEN=<tokenstring>

Kubernetes service account role authentication:

export KONG_VAULT_HCV_PROTOCOL=<protocol(http|https)>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_HOST=<hostname>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_PORT=<portnumber>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_MOUNT=<mountpoint>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_KV=<v1|v2>
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_AUTH_METHOD=kubernetes
export KONG_VAULT_HCV_KUBE_ROLE=<rolename>

You can also store this information in an entity.

Configuration via vaults entity

The Vault entity can only be used once the database is initialized. Secrets for values that are used before the database is initialized can’t make use of the Vaults entity.

Admin API
Declarative configuration
cURL
HTTPie
curl -i -X PUT http://HOSTNAME:8001/vaults/my-hashicorp-vault \
  --data name="hcv" \
  --data description="Storing secrets in HashiCorp Vault" \
  --data config.protocol="https" \
  --data config.host="localhost" \
  --data config.port="8200" \
  --data config.mount="secret" \
  --data config.kv="v2" \
  --data config.token="<mytoken>"
http -f PUT :8001/vaults/my-hashicorp-vault \
  name="hcv" \
  description="Storing secrets in HashiCorp Vault" \
  config.protocol="https" \
  config.host="localhost" \
  config.port="8200" \
  config.mount="secret" \
  config.kv="v2" \
  config.token="<mytoken>"

Result:

{
    "config": {
        "host": "localhost",
        "kv": "v2",
        "mount": "secret",
        "port": 8200,
        "protocol": "https",
        "token": "<mytoken>"
    },
    "created_at": 1645008893,
    "description": "Storing secrets in HashiCorp Vault",
    "id": "0b43d867-05db-4bed-8aed-0fccb6667837",
    "name": "hcv",
    "prefix": "my-hashicorp-vault",
    "tags": null,
    "updated_at": 1645008893
}

Secrets management is supported in decK 1.16 and later.

Add the following snippet to your declarative configuration file:

_format_version: "3.0"
vaults:
- config:
    host: localhost
    kv: v2
    mount: secret
    port: 8200
    protocol: https
    token: <mytoken>
  description: Storing secrets in HashiCorp Vault
  name: hcv
  prefix: my-hashicorp-vault

Examples

For example, let’s say you’ve configured a HashiCorp Vault with a path of secret/hello and a key=value pair of foo=world:

vault kv put secret/hello foo=world

Key                Value
---                -----
created_time       2022-01-15T01:40:03.740833Z
custom_metadata    <nil>
deletion_time      n/a
destroyed          false
version            1

Access these secrets like this:

{vault://hcv/hello/foo}

Or, if you configured an entity:

{vault://my-hashicorp-vault/hello/foo}

Vault configuration options

Use the following configuration options to configure the vaults entity through any of the supported tools:

  • Admin API
  • Declarative configuration
  • Kong Manager
  • Konnect

Configuration options for a HashiCorp vault in Kong Gateway:

Parameter Field name Description
vaults.config.protocol config-protocol (Kong Manager)
Protocol (Konnect)
The protocol to connect with. Accepts one of http or https.
vaults.config.host config-host (Kong Manager)
Host (Konnect)
The hostname of your HashiCorp vault.
vaults.config.port config-port (Kong Manager)
Port (Konnect)
The port number of your HashiCorp vault.
vaults.config.mount config-mount (Kong Manager)
Mount (Konnect)
The mount point.
vaults.config.kv config-kv (Kong Manager)
Kv (Konnect)
The secrets engine version. Accepts v1 or v2.
vaults.config.token config-token (Kong Manager)
Token (Konnect)
A token string.
vaults.config.namespace namespace Namespace for the Vault. Vault Enterprise requires a namespace to successfully connect to it.
vaults.config.auth_method auth-method Defines the authentication mechanism when connecting to the Hashicorp Vault service. Accepted values are: token, or kubernetes.
vaults.config.kube_role kube-role Defines the HashiCorp Vault role for the Kubernetes service account of the running pod. keyring_vault_auth_method must be set to kubernetes for this to activate.

Common options:

Parameter Field name Description
vaults.description
optional
Description An optional description for your vault.
vaults.name Name The type of vault. Accepts one of: env, gcp, aws, or hcv. Set hcv for HashiCorp Vault.
vaults.prefix Prefix The reference prefix. You need this prefix to access secrets stored in this vault. For example, {vault://my-hcv-vault/<some-secret>}.
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