Day 23: Managing Secrets with HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager

Welcome to Day 23 of the Zero to Platform Engineer in 30 Days challenge! ?? Today, we’re focusing on secrets management using HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager, two powerful tools for securing credentials, API keys, and sensitive data.

Why Secrets Management Matters

Handling secrets securely is critical to:

• Prevent credential leaks and unauthorized access.
• Automate secrets rotation for improved security.
• Enable role-based access control (RBAC) for sensitive data.

?? Secrets should never be stored in Git repositories or hardcoded in applications!

Secrets Management Tools: HashiCorp Vault vs. AWS Secrets Manager

HashiCorp Vault and AWS Secrets Manager are two widely used tools for managing secrets and credentials in modern environments. While both serve the purpose of storing, protecting, and managing secrets, their approach and features differ significantly, making them more suitable for different use cases.

Type and Deployment Model

HashiCorp Vault is an open-source and enterprise solution that allows for self-hosted deployment, giving organizations greater control over their secret management infrastructure. Its flexibility makes it ideal for companies that require integration with multiple clouds, hybrid environments, or on-premise infrastructure. In contrast, AWS Secrets Manager is a fully managed service within the AWS ecosystem, optimized for seamless integration with other AWS cloud services, eliminating the need for infrastructure management.

Use Cases

If a company needs a secret management solution that integrates with multiple cloud providers or on-premise infrastructure, HashiCorp Vault is the most flexible choice. Its ability to operate in any environment makes it the best option for multi-cloud architectures. On the other hand, AWS Secrets Manager is specifically designed for cloud-native AWS environments, providing a simple and direct integration with services like AWS Lambda, RDS, and EC2.

Automatic Secret Rotation

Both tools support automatic credential rotation, but they take different approaches. HashiCorp Vault achieves this through configurable policies, allowing users to define specific rules for renewing and expiring secrets. AWS Secrets Manager, in contrast, enables automatic rotation through integration with AWS Lambda, where users can define custom functions to manage secret updates.

Encryption and Security

In terms of encryption, HashiCorp Vault uses AES-256 to protect data at rest and in transit, offering advanced security configurations such as hardware security modules (HSM). AWS Secrets Manager, on the other hand, leverages AWS Key Management Service (KMS), ensuring integration with AWS security policies and compliance standards.

Access Control

HashiCorp Vault provides Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), policies, and token-based authentication to manage permissions, allowing fine-grained access control. AWS Secrets Manager relies on AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and policies, ensuring that access control is fully aligned with AWS best practices.

Both tools offer strong security and automation capabilities, but the choice depends on the organization’s architecture and cloud strategy. HashiCorp Vault is the best fit for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, while AWS Secrets Manager is ideal for teams fully invested in AWS.

?? Both tools provide encryption, access control, and auto-rotation, but HashiCorp Vault offers more flexibility for multi-cloud environments.

How HashiCorp Vault Works

• Stores secrets securely in a central location.
• Generates dynamic credentials for databases, APIs, and cloud providers.
• Supports Kubernetes integration for injecting secrets into pods.

Installing HashiCorp Vault (Helm in Kubernetes):

helm repo add hashicorp https://helm.releases.hashicorp.com
helm repo update
helm install vault hashicorp/vault --namespace vault --create-namespace
        

Storing a secret in Vault:

vault kv put secret/my-app password="supersecure123"        

Retrieving a secret:

vault kv get secret/my-app        

1. Open Backstage in your browser: https://localhost:3000

How AWS Secrets Manager Works

• Securely stores AWS credentials, API keys, and database passwords.
• Integrates with AWS Lambda for automatic secret rotation.
• Uses AWS IAM for access control and permissions.

Creating a secret in AWS Secrets Manager:

aws secretsmanager create-secret --name my-secret --secret-string '{"username":"admin","password":"supersecure123"}'        

Retrieving a secret:

aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id my-secret        

?? AWS Secrets Manager is ideal for cloud-native AWS applications needing seamless IAM integration.

Best Practices for Secrets Management

• Never hardcode secrets in application code.
• Use short-lived, dynamically generated credentials.
• Restrict access to secrets using RBAC and least privilege.
• Enable automatic rotation for database credentials and API keys.
• Monitor and audit secret access logs for anomalies.

Activity for Today

1. Set up HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager.
2. Store a secret and retrieve it using CLI commands.
3. Explore auto-rotation features for credentials.

What’s Next?

Tomorrow, we’ll scale Kubernetes applications using HPA and Cluster Autoscaler.

#Platform Engineering#Devops#Cloud Native#SRE#backstage#devsecops#vault #awssecretsmanager