Accessing Hashicorp Vault Secrets with Vault Functions (deprecated)

Data Collector can use Hashicorp Vault functions to access information, called secrets, stored in Hashicorp Vault.

Important: Vault functions are now deprecated and will be removed in a future release. We recommend using the credential functions available with the Vault credential store integration.

You can use Vault secrets in place of username and password properties, similar properties such as AWS access key IDs and secret access keys, and in HTTP headers and bodies when using HTTPS.

To access Vault secrets using the Vault functions, configure properties for Data Collector to access Vault. Then, use Vault functions in the pipeline to access Vault at run time.

To access information stored in Hashicorp Vault, perform the following steps:

Configure the Hashicorp Vault connection properties.
In the pipeline, use Vault functions to access Hashicorp Vault secrets.

Note: This documentation includes details about Hashicorp Vault to simplify the installation and configuration process. For more information, see the Vault documentation.

Step 1. Configure Hashicorp Vault Properties

To enable Data Collector to connect to Hashicorp Vault, configure the following files located in the $SDC_CONF directory:

Vault properties file

The vault.properties file contains a single Vault EL property that you must uncomment to use the deprecated Vault functions.

Credential stores properties file

The credential-stores.properties file contains the remaining Vault properties. The Vault server URL, Role ID, and Secret ID are required properties. Configure other properties as needed.

Note: The credentialStore.vault.def and credentialStore.vault.config.pathKey.separator properties are not used by the Vault functions. You can ignore these properties.

Configure the following properties in the file:


Vault Property	Description
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.addr	Required. Vault server URL entered in the following format: `https://<host name>:<port number>` Use HTTPS to avoid unencrypted communication.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.authMethod	Required. Authentication method that Data Collector uses to authenticate with Vault. Specify one of the following authentication methods: appId appRole azure Important: The App ID authentication backend has been deprecated by Hashicorp and will be removed in a future release. As a result, do not use App ID authentication for new installations. Default is appRole.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.role.id	Required for App Role authentication. Vault Role ID that Data Collector uses to authenticate with Vault. The Role ID is configured within Vault by your Vault administrator. The Data Collector Vault integration relies on Vault's App Role authentication backend.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.secret.id	Required for App Role authentication. Vault Secret ID that Data Collector uses to authenticate with Vault. The Secret ID is configured within Vault by your Vault administrator. To protect the Secret ID, store the Secret ID in an external location and then use a function to retrieve the Secret ID. Default uses the `file` function to retrieve the Secret ID from vault-secret-id in the `$SDC_CONF` directory.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.azure.role	Required for Azure authentication. Name of the Vault role defined for Data Collector.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.azure.subscriptionId	Required for Azure authentication. Subscription ID of the Azure subscription where Data Collector is hosted.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.azure.resourceGroupName	Required for Azure authentication. Name of the resource group defined in the Vault role for Data Collector.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.azure.vmName	Required for Azure authentication. Name of the Azure VM where Data Collector is running.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.azure.resource	Required for Azure authentication. Name of the resource defined in the Azure authentication configuration.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.app.id	Deprecated. App ID for App ID authentication. Important: The App ID authentication backend has been deprecated by Hashicorp and will be removed in a future release. As a result, do not configure this property for new installations.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.lease.renewal.interval.sec	Optional. Seconds to wait before checking for leases that need renewal. Default is 60.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.lease.expiration.buffer.sec	Optional. Buffer for expiring leases. Data Collector renews leases that expire in less than the specified number of seconds. Default is 120.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.open.timeout	Optional. Timeout to establish an HTTP connection to Vault in milliseconds. Default is 0 for no limit.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.proxy.address	Optional. Proxy URL. Configure to use a proxy to access Vault.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.proxy.port	Optional. Proxy port. Configure to use a proxy to access Vault.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.proxy.username	Optional. Proxy username. Configure to use a proxy to access Vault.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.proxy.password	Optional. Proxy password. Configure to use a proxy to access Vault. To protect the password, store the password in an external location and then use a function to retrieve the password.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.read.timeout	Optional. Milliseconds to wait for data before timing out. Default is 0 for no limit.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.ssl.enabled.protocols	Optional. SSL/TLS-enabled protocols. Versions TLSv1.2 or later are recommended. Default is TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.ssl.truststore.file	Optional. Path to a Java truststore file. Required when using a private CA or certificates not trusted by the Java default truststore.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.ssl.truststore.password	Optional. Password for the truststore file. To protect the password, store the password in an external location and then use a function to retrieve the password.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.ssl.verify	Optional. Whether to verify that the Vault server hostname matches its certificate. Default is true. False is not recommended.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.ssl.timeout	Optional. Timeout for the SSL/TLS handshake in milliseconds. Default is 0 for no limit.
credentialStore.<cstore ID>.config.timeout	Optional. Timeout to read from Vault in milliseconds, after a connection has been established. Default is 0 for no limit.

Restart Data Collector to enable the changes to both files.

Step 2. Call Hashicorp Vault from the Pipeline

After enabling Data Collector to access Hashicorp Vault, use the Vault functions in pipeline and stage properties to access Vault secrets.

The expression language provides Vault functions to return Vault secrets. You can use Vault functions in username, password, and similar properties such as AWS access key IDs and secret access keys. You can also use the functions in HTTP headers and bodies when using HTTPS.

You can use the following functions to access Vault secrets:

vault:read(): Use to return the value for the Vault path and key that you provide. Typically, you'll use this function to access secrets.
vault:readWithDelay(): Use to return the value for the specified Vault path and key with a delay. Use this function to incorporate a delay in the response to allow time for other processes to complete.; For example, you should use this function when using the Vault AWS secret backend to generate AWS access credentials based on IAM policies. According to Vault documentation, you might need a delay of 10 seconds or more before the credentials can be used successfully.

For more information, see Miscellaneous Functions.