HashiCorp Vault Overview | Generated by AI
What is HashiCorp Vault?
HashiCorp Vault is an open-source tool designed for securely managing, storing, and accessing sensitive data, often referred to as “secrets.” These include API keys, passwords, certificates, tokens, and encryption keys. It acts as a centralized system for identity-based secrets management, encryption as a service, and privileged access control, helping organizations protect sensitive information in dynamic, multi-cloud, or hybrid environments.
Key Features
- Secrets Management: Vault handles both static secrets (like long-lived passwords) and dynamic secrets (short-lived credentials generated on-demand, such as database users that expire automatically).
- Encryption and Auditing: All data is encrypted at rest and in transit, with comprehensive logging and auditing to track access and changes.
- Identity-Based Access: It integrates with identity providers (e.g., LDAP, OIDC) to authenticate users and systems, enforcing fine-grained policies for who can access what.
- Dynamic Credentials and Leasing: Secrets are leased for a limited time, reducing the risk of long-term exposure.
- Cloud-Agnostic and Self-Hosted: Works across any infrastructure, with options for on-premises deployment or managed services.
How It Works
Vault operates as a client-server application. Clients (applications or users) authenticate to the Vault server, which then authorizes requests based on policies. Once approved, Vault can retrieve stored secrets, generate new ones, or revoke access. For example, an app might request a temporary database credential, use it, and let it auto-expire. The architecture includes a storage backend (e.g., Consul, PostgreSQL) for persistence and supports high availability through clustering.
It’s widely used in DevOps, security, and compliance scenarios to replace manual secret handling, reducing breach risks in low-trust environments.
References
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[What is Vault? Vault - HashiCorp Developer](https://developer.hashicorp.com/vault/docs/about-vault/what-is-vault) -
[HashiCorp Vault Identity-based secrets management](https://www.hashicorp.com/en/products/vault) - hashicorp/vault: A tool for secrets management, encryption … - GitHub
- What Is HashiCorp Vault & How Does Vault Work? - KodeKloud