Vault CSI provider examples

The following examples demonstrate how the Vault CSI Provider can be used.

A common mistake is to not install the CSI Secret Store Driver before using the Vault CSI Provider.

File based dynamic database credentials

The following Secret Provider Class retrieves dynamic database credentials from Vault and extracts the generated username and password. The secrets are then mounted as files in the configured mount location.

---apiVersion: secrets-store.csi.x-k8s.io/v1alpha1kind: SecretProviderClassmetadata:  name: vault-db-credsspec:  provider: vault  parameters:    roleName: 'app'    objects: |      - objectName: "dbUsername"        secretPath: "database/creds/db-app"        secretKey: "username"      - objectName: "dbPassword"        secretPath: "database/creds/db-app"        secretKey: "password"

Next, a pod can be created to use this Secret Provider Class to populate the secrets in the pod:

apiVersion: apps/v1kind: Deploymentmetadata:  name: app  labels:    app: demospec:  selector:    matchLabels:      app: demo  replicas: 1  template:    metadata:      annotations:      labels:        app: demo    spec:      serviceAccountName: app      containers:        - name: app          image: my-app:1.0.0          volumeMounts:            - name: 'vault-db-creds'              mountPath: '/mnt/secrets-store'              readOnly: true      volumes:        - name: vault-db-creds          csi:            driver: 'secrets-store.csi.k8s.io'            readOnly: true            volumeAttributes:              secretProviderClass: 'vault-db-creds'

The pod mounts a CSI volume and specifies the Secret Provider Class (vault-db-creds) created above. The secrets created from that provider class are mounted to /mnt/secrets-store. When this pod is created the containers will find two files containing secrets:

Environment variable dynamic database credentials

The following Secret Provider Class retrieves dynamic database credentials from Vault and extracts the generated username and password. The secrets are then synced to Kubernetes secrets so that they can be mounted as environment variables in the containers.

---apiVersion: secrets-store.csi.x-k8s.io/v1alpha1kind: SecretProviderClassmetadata:  name: vault-db-credsspec:  provider: vault  secretObjects:    - secretName: vault-db-creds-secret      type: Opaque      data:        - objectName: dbUsername # References dbUsername below          key: username # Key within k8s secret for this value        - objectName: dbPassword          key: password  parameters:    roleName: 'app'    objects: |      - objectName: "dbUsername"        secretPath: "database/creds/db-app"        secretKey: "username"      - objectName: "dbPassword"        secretPath: "database/creds/db-app"        secretKey: "password"

Next, a pod can be created which uses this Secret Provider Class to populate the secrets in the pod's environment:

apiVersion: apps/v1kind: Deploymentmetadata:  name: app  labels:    app: demospec:  selector:    matchLabels:      app: demo  replicas: 1  template:    metadata:      annotations:      labels:        app: demo    spec:      serviceAccountName: app      containers:        - name: app          image: my-app:1.0.0          env:            - name: DB_USERNAME              valueFrom:                secretKeyRef:                  name: vault-db-creds-secret                  key: username            - name: DB_PASSWORD              valueFrom:                secretKeyRef:                  name: vault-db-creds-secret                  key: password          volumeMounts:            - name: 'vault-db-creds'              mountPath: '/mnt/secrets-store'              readOnly: true      volumes:        - name: vault-db-creds          csi:            driver: 'secrets-store.csi.k8s.io'            readOnly: true            volumeAttributes:              secretProviderClass: 'vault-db-creds'

The pod mounts a CSI volume and specifies the Secret Provider Class (vault-db-creds) created above. The secrets created from that provider class are mounted to /mnt/secrets-store, additionally a Kubernetes secret called vault-db-creds is created and referenced in two environment variables.