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Manage Redis credentials using the KubeVault operator
Redis is one of the supported plugins for the database secrets engine. This plugin generates database credentials dynamically based on configured roles for the Redis database. You can easily manage Redis 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 Redis and issue credential using SecretAccessRequest.
Vault Server
If you don’t have a Vault Server, you can deploy it by using the KubeVault operator. To create a Redis Secret Engine, VaultServer version needs to be 1.12.1+
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:
creationTimestamp: "2021-08-16T08:23:38Z"
generation: 1
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/instance: vault
app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kubevault.com
app.kubernetes.io/name: vaultservers.kubevault.com
name: vault
namespace: demo
ownerReferences:
- apiVersion: kubevault.com/v1alpha1
blockOwnerDeletion: true
controller: true
kind: VaultServer
name: vault
uid: 6b405147-93da-41ff-aad3-29ae9f415d0a
resourceVersion: "602898"
uid: b54873fd-0f34-42f7-bdf3-4e667edb4659
spec:
clientConfig:
service:
name: vault
port: 8200
scheme: http
parameters:
apiVersion: config.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: VaultServerConfiguration
kubernetes:
serviceAccountName: vault
tokenReviewerServiceAccountName: vault-k8s-token-reviewer
usePodServiceAccountForCSIDriver: true
path: kubernetes
vaultRole: vault-policy-controller
Enable and Configure Redis 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 Redis secret engine:
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: SecretEngine
metadata:
name: redis-secret-engine
namespace: demo
spec:
vaultRef:
name: vault
namespace: demo
redis:
databaseRef:
name: redis-standalone
namespace: demo
pluginName: "redis-database-plugin"
Let’s deploy SecretEngine:
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/redis/secretengine.yaml
secretengine.engine.kubevault.com/redis-secret-engine created
Wait till the status become Success:
$ kubectl get secretengines -n demo
NAME STATUS AGE
redis-secret-engine Success 10s
Since the status is Success, the Redis secret engine is enabled and successfully configured. You can use kubectl describe secretengine -n <namepsace> <name> to check for error events, if any.
Create Redis Role
By using RedisRole, you can create a role on the Vault server in Kubernetes native way.
A sample RedisRole object is given below:
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: RedisRole
metadata:
name: write-read-role
namespace: demo
spec:
secretEngineRef:
name: redis-secret-engine
creationStatements:
- '["~*", "+@read","+@write"]'
defaultTTL: 1h
maxTTL: 24h
Let’s deploy RedisRole:
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/redis/secretenginerole.yaml
redisrole.engine.kubevault.com/write-read-role created
$ kubectl get redisrole -n demo
NAME STATUS AGE
write-read-role Success 34m
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 k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/roles
Keys
----
k8s.kubevault.com.demo.write-read-role
$ vault read k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/roles/k8s.kubevault.com.demo.write-read-role
Key Value
--- -----
creation_statements [["~*", "+@read","+@write"]]
credential_type password
db_name k8s.kubevault.com.demo.redis-standalone
default_ttl 1h
max_ttl 24h
renew_statements []
revocation_statements []
rollback_statements []
If we delete the Redis, then the respective role will be deleted from the Vault.
$ kubectl delete -n demo redisrole write-read-role
redisrole.engine.kubevault.com "write-read-role" deleted
Check from Vault whether the role exists:
$ vault read k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/roles/k8s.kubevault.com.demo.write-read-role
No value found at k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/roles/k8s.kubevault.com.demo.write-read-role
$ vault list k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/roles
No value found at k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/roles
Generate Redis credentials
Here, we are going to make a request to Vault for Redis credentials by creating write-read-access-req SecretAccessRequest in demo namespace.
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: SecretAccessRequest
metadata:
name: write-read-access-req
namespace: demo
spec:
roleRef:
kind: RedisRole
name: write-read-role
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: write-read-user
namespace: demo
Here, spec.roleRef is the reference of Redis against which credentials will be issued. spec.subjects is the reference to the object or user identities a role binding applies to it will have read access of the credential secret.
Now, we are going to create SecretAccessRequest.
$ kubectl apply -f docs/examples/guides/secret-engines/redis/redisaccessrequest.yaml
secretaccessrequest.engine.kubevault.com/write-read-access-req created
$ kubectl get secretaccessrequest -n demo
NAME STATUS AGE
write-read-access-req WaitingForApproval 14s
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 SecretAccessRequest.
# using KubeVault CLI as kubectl plugin to approve request
$ kubectl vault approve secretaccessrequest write-read-access-req -n demo
secretaccessrequests write-read-access-req approved
$ kubectl get secretaccessrequest -n demo write-read-access-req -o yaml
apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
kind: SecretAccessRequest
metadata:
annotations:
kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration: |
{"apiVersion":"engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1","kind":"SecretAccessRequest","metadata":{"annotations":{},"name":"write-read-access-req","namespace":"demo"},"spec":{"roleRef":{"kind":"RedisRole","name":"write-read-role"},"subjects":[{"kind":"ServiceAccount","name":"write-read-user","namespace":"demo"}]}}
vaultservers.kubevault.com/name: vault
vaultservers.kubevault.com/namespace: demo
creationTimestamp: "2022-12-28T09:14:25Z"
finalizers:
- kubevault.com
generation: 1
name: write-read-access-req
namespace: demo
resourceVersion: "341401"
uid: 0bf92c6a-fbbb-4600-8bc8-8bddbf2c34dd
spec:
roleRef:
kind: RedisRole
name: write-read-role
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: write-read-user
namespace: demo
status:
conditions:
- lastTransitionTime: "2022-12-28T09:15:22Z"
message: 'This was approved by: kubectl vault approve secretaccessrequest'
observedGeneration: 1
reason: KubectlApprove
status: "True"
type: Approved
- lastTransitionTime: "2022-12-28T09:15:22Z"
message: The requested credentials successfully issued.
observedGeneration: 1
reason: SuccessfullyIssuedCredential
status: "True"
type: Available
lease:
duration: 1h0m0s
id: k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/creds/k8s.kubevault.com.demo.write-read-role/mNeREfw0SJQBekA8ZkzJn2Tf
renewable: true
observedGeneration: 1
phase: Approved
secret:
name: write-read-access-req-c9ttdf
namespace: demo
Once SecretAccessRequest 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 secretaccessrequest write-read-access-req -n demo -o json | jq '.status'
{
"conditions": [
{
"lastTransitionTime": "2022-12-28T09:15:22Z",
"message": "This was approved by: kubectl vault approve secretaccessrequest",
"observedGeneration": 1,
"reason": "KubectlApprove",
"status": "True",
"type": "Approved"
},
{
"lastTransitionTime": "2022-12-28T09:15:22Z",
"message": "The requested credentials successfully issued.",
"observedGeneration": 1,
"reason": "SuccessfullyIssuedCredential",
"status": "True",
"type": "Available"
}
],
"lease": {
"duration": "1h0m0s",
"id": "k8s.kubevault.com.redis.demo.redis-secret-engine/creds/k8s.kubevault.com.demo.write-read-role/mNeREfw0SJQBekA8ZkzJn2Tf",
"renewable": true
},
"observedGeneration": 1,
"phase": "Approved",
"secret": {
"name": "write-read-access-req-c9ttdf",
"namespace": "demo"
}
}
$ kubectl get secret -n demo
NAME TYPE DATA AGE
write-read-access-req-c9ttdf Opaque 2 2m3s
$ kubectl get secret -n demo write-read-access-req-c9ttdf -o yaml
apiVersion: v1
data:
password: MUtwT2YtV0lyZG1qSTJQUktwSFg=
username: Vl9LVUJFUk5FVEVTLURFTU8tVkFVTFRfSzhTLktVQkVWQVVMVC5DT00uREVNTy5XUklURS1SRUFELVJPTEVfQVlCVFBLTVhGUEdPM0tHR05NUjJfMTY3MjIxODkyMg==
kind: Secret
metadata:
creationTimestamp: "2022-12-28T09:15:22Z"
name: write-read-access-req-c9ttdf
namespace: demo
ownerReferences:
- apiVersion: engine.kubevault.com/v1alpha1
blockOwnerDeletion: true
controller: true
kind: SecretAccessRequest
name: write-read-access-req
uid: 0bf92c6a-fbbb-4600-8bc8-8bddbf2c34dd
resourceVersion: "341397"
uid: b038419d-59ff-4946-8ff3-1a04984d6f0f
type: Opaque
If SecretAccessRequest is deleted, then credential lease (if any) will be revoked.
$ kubectl delete secretaccessrequest -n demo write-read-access-req
secretaccessrequest.engine.kubevault.com "write-read-access-req" deleted
If SecretAccessRequest is Denied, then the KubeVault operator will not issue any credential.
$ kubectl vault deny secretaccessrequest write-read-access-req -n demo
secretaccessrequest.engine.kubevault.com "write-read-access-req" deleted
Note: Once SecretAccessRequest is
Approved, you cannot changespec.roleRefandspec.subjectsfield.