Skip to content
Kong Gateway 2.8 Increases Security and Simplifies API Management.  —Learn More →
Kong Logo | Kong Docs Logo
search
  • We're Hiring!
  • Docs
    • Kong Gateway
    • Konnect Cloud
    • Kong Mesh
    • Plugin Hub
    • decK
    • Kubernetes Ingress Controller
    • Insomnia
    • Kuma

    • Kong Konnect Platform

    • Docs contribution guidelines
  • Plugin Hub
  • Support
  • Community
  • Kong Academy
Request Demo
  • Kong Gateway
  • Konnect Cloud
  • Kong Mesh
  • Plugin Hub
  • decK
  • Kubernetes Ingress Controller
  • Insomnia
  • Kuma

  • Kong Konnect Platform

  • Docs contribution guidelines
  • 2.8.x (latest)
  • 2.7.x
  • 2.6.x
  • Older Enterprise versions (0.31-2.5)
  • Older OSS versions (0.13-2.5)
  • Archive (pre-0.13)
    • Version Support Policy
    • Changelog
    • Kubernetes
    • Helm
    • OpenShift with Helm
    • Docker
    • Amazon Linux
    • CentOS
    • macOS
    • Debian
    • RHEL
    • Ubuntu
    • Migrating from OSS to EE
    • Upgrade Kong Gateway
    • Upgrade Kong Gateway OSS
      • Configuring a Service
      • Configuring a gRPC Service
      • Enabling Plugins
      • Adding Consumers
      • Prepare to Administer
      • Expose your Services
      • Protect your Services
      • Improve Performance
      • Secure Services
      • Set Up Intelligent Load Balancing
      • Manage Administrative Teams
      • Publish, Locate, and Consume Services
    • Running Kong as a Non-Root User
    • Resource Sizing Guidelines
      • Deploy Kong Gateway in Hybrid Mode
    • Kubernetes Deployment Options
    • Control Kong Gateway through systemd
    • Performance Testing Framework
    • DNS Considerations
    • Default Ports
      • Access Your License
      • Deploy Your License
      • Monitor License Usage
      • Start Kong Gateway Securely
      • Keyring and Data Encryption
      • Kong Security Update Process
        • Getting Started
        • Advanced Usage
          • Environment Variables
          • AWS Secrets Manager
          • Hashicorp Vault
        • Reference Format
      • Authentication Reference
        • OpenID Connect with Curity
        • OpenID Connect with Azure AD
        • OpenID Connect with Google
        • OpenID Connect with Okta
        • OpenID Connect with Auth0
        • OpenID Connect with Cognito
        • OpenID Connect Plugin Reference
      • Allowing Multiple Authentication Methods
        • Create a Super Admin
        • Configure Networking
        • Configure Kong Manager to Send Email
        • Reset Passwords and RBAC Tokens
        • Configure Workspaces
        • Basic Auth
        • LDAP
        • OIDC
        • Sessions
        • Add a Role
        • Add a User
        • Add an Admin
      • Mapping LDAP Service Directory Groups to Kong Roles
      • Enable the Dev Portal
      • Structure and File Types
      • Portal API
      • Working with Templates
      • Using the Editor
          • Basic Auth
          • Key Auth
          • OIDC
          • Sessions
          • Adding Custom Registration Fields
        • SMTP
        • Workspaces
        • Manage Developers
        • Developer Roles and Content Permissions
          • Authorization Provider Strategy
          • Enable Application Registration
          • Enable Key Authentication for Application Registration
          • External OAuth2 Support
          • Set up Okta and Kong for external OAuth
          • Set Up Azure AD and Kong for External Authentication
          • Manage Applications
        • Easy Theme Editing
        • Migrating Templates Between Workspaces
        • Markdown Rendering Module
        • Customizing Portal Emails
        • Adding and Using JavaScript Assets
        • Single Page App in Dev Portal
        • Alternate OpenAPI Renderer
      • Helpers CLI
    • Configure gRPC Plugins
    • GraphQL Quickstart
    • Logging Reference
    • Network and Firewall
      • Metrics
      • Reports
      • Vitals with InfluxDB
      • Vitals with Prometheus
      • Estimate Vitals Storage in PostgreSQL
    • Prometheus plugin
    • Zipkin plugin
      • DB-less Mode
      • Declarative Configuration
      • Supported Content Types
      • Information Routes
      • Health Routes
      • Tags
      • Service Object
      • Route Object
      • Consumer Object
      • Plugin Object
      • Certificate Object
      • CA Certificate Object
      • SNI Object
      • Upstream Object
      • Target Object
      • Vaults Beta
        • Licenses Reference
        • Licenses Examples
        • Workspaces Reference
        • Workspace Examples
        • RBAC Reference
        • RBAC Examples
        • API Reference
        • Examples
      • Developers
        • API Reference
        • Examples
        • Event Hooks Reference
        • Examples
      • Audit Logging
      • Keyring and Data Encryption
      • Securing the Admin API
    • DB-less and Declarative Configuration
    • Configuration Reference
    • CLI Reference
    • Load Balancing Reference
    • Proxy Reference
    • Rate Limiting Library
    • Health Checks and Circuit Breakers Reference
    • Clustering Reference
      • kong.client
      • kong.client.tls
      • kong.cluster
      • kong.ctx
      • kong.ip
      • kong.log
      • kong.nginx
      • kong.node
      • kong.request
      • kong.response
      • kong.router
      • kong.service
      • kong.service.request
      • kong.service.response
      • kong.table
      • kong.vault
      • Introduction
      • File structure
      • Implementing custom logic
      • Plugin configuration
      • Accessing the datastore
      • Storing custom entities
      • Caching custom entities
      • Extending the Admin API
      • Writing tests
      • (un)Installing your plugin
    • Plugins in Other Languages

github-edit-pageEdit this page

report-issueReport an issue

enterprise-switcher-iconSwitch to OSS

On this page
  • Getting started
    • Define a reference
    • Using the reference
Kong Gateway
2.8.x (latest)
  • Kong Konnect Platform
  • Kong Gateway
  • Plan and deploy
  • Security
  • Secrets management

Get Started with Secrets Management

This feature is released as and should not be deployed in a production environment.

This feature is currently in beta state and isn’t fully supported. APIs are subject to change.

Secrets are generally confidential values that should not appear in plain text in the application. There are several products that help you store, retrieve, and rotate these secrets securely. Kong Gateway offers a mechanism to set up references to these secrets which makes your Kong Gateway installation more secure.

Getting started

This feature isn’t enabled by default in this version of Kong.
Start Kong Gateway with KONG_VAULTS=bundled.

The following example uses the most basic form of secrets management: storing secrets in environment variables. In this example, you will replace a plaintext password to your Postgres database with a reference to an environment variable.

You can also store secrets in a secure vault backend. For a list of supported vault backend implementations, see the Backends Overview.

In this example we’ll replace our plaintext password to our Postgres database with a reference. To do so, please define your environment variable and assign a secret value to it.

Define a reference

Define your environment variable and assign a secret value to it:

export MY_SECRET_POSTGRES_PASSWORD="opensesame"

Next, set up a reference to this environment variable so that Kong Gateway can find this secret. We use a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) format for this.

In this case, the reference would look like this:

{vault://env/my_secret_postgres_password}

Where:

  • vault is the scheme (protocol) that we use to indicate that this is a secret.
  • env is the name of the backend (Environment Variables), since we’re storing the secret in a ENV variable.
  • my_secret_postgres_password corresponds to the environment variable that you just defined.

Note that the reference is wrapped in curly braces.

Using the reference

You can specify configuration options using environment variables or by directly updating the kong.conf configuration file.

  • Environment variable
KONG_PG_PASSWORD={vault://env/my-secret-postgres-password}
  • Configuration file

the kong.conf has a key called “pg_password”. Replace the original value with

pg_password={vault://env/my-secret-postgres-password}

Upon startup, Kong will try to detect and transparently resolve references.

For quick debug/testing you can use the new CLI for vaults

See the Advanced Usage documentation for more information on the configuration options for each vault backend.

Thank you for your feedback.
Was this page useful?
  • Kong
    THE CLOUD CONNECTIVITY COMPANY

    Kong powers reliable digital connections across APIs, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

    • Company
    • Customers
    • Events
    • Investors
    • Careers Hiring!
    • Partners
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Products
    • Kong Konnect
    • Kong Gateway
    • Kong Mesh
    • Get Started
    • Pricing
  • Resources
    • eBooks
    • Webinars
    • Briefs
    • Blog
    • API Gateway
    • Microservices
  • Open Source
    • Install Kong Gateway
    • Kong Community
    • Kubernetes Ingress
    • Kuma
    • Insomnia
  • Solutions
    • Decentralize
    • Secure & Govern
    • Create a Dev Platform
    • API Gateway
    • Kubernetes
    • Service Mesh
Star
  • Terms•Privacy
© Kong Inc. 2022