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Manage MongoDB credentials using the KubeVault operator
MongoDB is one of the supported plugins for the database secrets engine. This plugin generates database credentials dynamically based on configured roles for the MongoDB database. You can easily manage MongoDB secret engine using the KubeVault operator.
You need to be familiar with the following CRDs:
Before you begin
- Install KubeVault operator in your cluster from here.
To keep things isolated, we are going to use a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial.
$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created
In this tutorial, we are going to create a role using MongoDBRole and issue credential using DatabaseAccessRequest.
Vault Server
If you don’t have a Vault Server, you can deploy it by using the KubeVault operator.
The KubeVault operator can manage policies and secret engines of Vault servers which are not provisioned by the KubeVault operator. You need to configure both the Vault server and the cluster so that the KubeVault operator can communicate with your Vault server.
Now, we have the AppBinding that contains connection and authentication information about the Vault server.
$ kubectl get appbinding -n demo
NAME AGE
vault 50m
$ kubectl get appbinding -n demo vault -o yaml
apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
kind: AppBinding
metadata:
name: vault
namespace: demo
spec:
clientConfig:
caBundle: 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
service:
name: vault
port: 8200
scheme: HTTPS
parameters:
apiVersion: config.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: VaultServerConfiguration
path: kubernetes
vaultRole: vault-policy-controller
kubernetes:
serviceAccountName: vault
tokenReviewerServiceAccountName: vault-k8s-token-reviewer
usePodServiceAccountForCSIDriver: true
Enable and Configure MongoDB Secret Engine
When a SecretEngine crd object is created, the KubeVault operator will enable a secret engine on specified path and configure the secret engine with given configurations.
A sample SecretEngine object for the MongoDB secret engine:
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: SecretEngine
metadata:
name: mongodb-engine
namespace: demo
spec:
vaultRef:
name: vault
mongodb:
databaseRef:
name: mongo-app
namespace: demo
To configure the MongoDB secret engine, you need to provide the MongoDB connection information through an AppBinding.
$ kubectl get services -n demo
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
mongo ClusterIP 10.98.184.214 <none> 27017/TCP 7h7m
Let’s consider mongo is the Kubernetes service name that communicate with MongoDB servers. You can also connect to the database server using URL. Visit AppBinding documentation for more details. A sample AppBinding example with necessary k8s secret is given below:
apiVersion: appcatalog.appscode.com/v1alpha1
kind: AppBinding
metadata:
name: mongo-app
namespace: demo
spec:
secret:
name: mongo-user-cred # k8s secret name
clientConfig:
service:
name: mongo
scheme: mongodb
port: 27017
insecureSkipTLSVerify: true
---
apiVersion: v1
data:
username: cm9vdA== # base64 encoded database username
password: cm9vdA== # base64 encoded database password
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: mongo-user-cred
namespace: demo
Let’s deploy SecretEngine:
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/mongodb/mongodbApp.yaml
appbinding.appcatalog.appscode.com/mongo-app created
secret/mongo-user-cred created
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/mongodb/mongoSecretEngine.yaml
secretengine.engine.kubevault.com/mongodb-engine created
Wait till the status become Success:
$ kubectl get secretengines -n demo
NAME STATUS
mongodb-engine Success
Since the status is Success, the MongoDB secret engine is enabled and successfully configured. You can use kubectl describe secretengine -n <namepsace> <name> to check for error events, if any.
Create MongoDB Role
By using MongoDBRole, you can create a role on the Vault server in Kubernetes native way.
A sample MongoDBRole object is given below:
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: MongoDBRole
metadata:
name: mdb-role
namespace: demo
spec:
vaultRef:
name: vault
databaseRef:
name: mongo-app
namespace: demo
creationStatements:
- "{ \"db\": \"admin\", \"roles\": [{ \"role\": \"readWrite\" }, {\"role\": \"read\", \"db\": \"foo\"}] }"
defaultTTL: 1h
maxTTL: 24h
Let’s deploy MongoDBRole:
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/mongodb/mongoRole.yaml
mongodbrole.engine.kubevault.com/mdb-role created
$ kubectl get mongodbrole -n demo
NAME AGE
mdb-role 16s
You can also check from Vault that the role is created.
To resolve the naming conflict, name of the role in Vault will follow this format: k8s.{clusterName}.{metadata.namespace}.{metadata.name}.
Don’t have Vault CLI? Download and configure it as described here
$ vault list database/roles
Keys
----
k8s.-.demo.mdb-role
$ vault read database/roles/k8s.-.demo.mdb-role
Key Value
--- -----
creation_statements [{ "db": "admin", "roles": [{ "role": "readWrite" }, {"role": "read", "db": "foo"}] }]
db_name k8s.-.demo.mongo-app
default_ttl 1h
max_ttl 24h
renew_statements []
revocation_statements []
rollback_statements []
If we delete the MongoDBRole, then the respective role will be deleted from the Vault.
$ kubectl delete mongodbrole -n demo mdb-role
mongodbrole.engine.kubevault.com "mdb-role" deleted
Check from Vault whether the role exists:
$ vault read database/roles/k8s.-.demo.mdb-role
No value found at database/roles/k8s.-.demo.mdb-role
$ vault list database/roles
No value found at database/roles/
Generate MongoDB credentials
By using DatabaseAccessRequest, you can generate database access credentials from Vault.
Here, we are going to make a request to Vault for MongoDB credentials by creating mdb-cred-rqst DatabaseAccessRequest in demo namespace.
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: DatabaseAccessRequest
metadata:
name: mdb-cred-rqst
namespace: demo
spec:
roleRef:
kind: MongoDBRole
name: mdb-role
namespace: demo
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: demo-sa
namespace: demo
Here, spec.roleRef is the reference of MongoDBRole against which credentials will be issued. spec.subjects is the reference to the object or user identities a role binding applies to and it will have read access of the credential secret.
Now, we are going to create DatabaseAccessRequest.
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/mongodb/mongoAccessRequest.yaml
databaseaccessrequest.engine.kubevault.com/mdb-cred-rqst created
$ kubectl get databaseaccessrequest -n demo
NAME AGE
mdb-cred-rqst 72m
Database credentials will not be issued until it is approved. The KubeVault operator will watch for the approval in the status.conditions[].type field of the request object. You can use KubeVault CLI, a kubectl plugin, to approve or deny DatabaseAccessRequest.
# using KubeVault CLI as kubectl plugin to approve request
$ kubectl vault approve databaseaccessrequest mdb-cred-rqst -n demo
approved
$ kubectl get databaseaccessrequest -n demo mdb-cred-rqst -o yaml
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: DatabaseAccessRequest
metadata:
name: mdb-cred-rqst
namespace: demo
spec:
roleRef:
kind: MongoDBRole
name: mdb-role
namespace: demo
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: demo-sa
namespace: demo
status:
conditions:
- lastUpdateTime: "2019-11-18T06:41:57Z"
message: This was approved by kubectl vault approve databaseaccessrequest
reason: KubectlApprove
type: Approved
lease:
duration: 1h0m0s
id: database/creds/k8s.-.demo.mdb-role/ni3TCo2HkSwCUb8kmQuvIDdx
renewable: true
secret:
name: mdb-cred-rqst-gy66wq
Once DatabaseAccessRequest is approved, the KubeVault operator will issue credentials from Vault and create a secret containing the credential. It will also create a role and rolebinding so that spec.subjects can access secret. You can view the information in the status field.
$ kubectl get databaseaccessrequest mdb-cred-rqst -n demo -o json | jq '.status'
{
"conditions": [
{
"lastUpdateTime": "2019-11-18T06:41:57Z",
"message": "This was approved by kubectl vault approve databaseaccessrequest",
"reason": "KubectlApprove",
"type": "Approved"
}
],
"lease": {
"duration": "1h0m0s",
"id": "database/creds/k8s.-.demo.mdb-role/ni3TCo2HkSwCUb8kmQuvIDdx",
"renewable": true
},
"secret": {
"name": "mdb-cred-rqst-gy66wq"
}
}
$ kubectl get secret -n demo mdb-cred-rqst-gy66wq -o yaml
apiVersion: v1
data:
password: QTFhLVBkZGlsZFFxa0o1cnlvR20=
username: di1rdWJlcm5ldGVzLWRlbW8TE1NzQwNTkzMTc=
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: mdb-cred-rqst-gy66wq
namespace: demo
ownerReferences:
- apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
controller: true
kind: DatabaseAccessRequest
name: mdb-cred-rqst
uid: 54ce63ca-d0e7-4b97-9085-b52eb3cb334f
type: Opaque
If DatabaseAccessRequest is deleted, then credential lease (if any) will be revoked.
$ kubectl delete databaseaccessrequest -n demo mdb-cred-rqst
databaseaccessrequest.engine.kubevault.com "mdb-cred-rqst" deleted
If DatabaseAccessRequest is Denied, then the KubeVault operator will not issue any credential.
$ kubectl vault deny databaseaccessrequest mdb-cred-rqst -n demo
Denied
Note: Once DatabaseAccessRequest is
ApprovedorDenied, you cannot changespec.roleRefandspec.subjectsfield.