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Installing the Vault EKM provider

This guide assumes you are installing the Vault EKM Provider for the first time. For upgrade instructions, see upgrading.

Prerequisites

  • Vault Enterprise server 1.9+ with a license for the Advanced Data Protection Key Management module
  • Microsoft Windows Server operating system
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 or newer for Windows (Windows SQL Server Express and SQL Server for Linux does not support EKM)
  • An authenticated Vault client

To check your Vault version and license, you can run:

vault statusvault license get -format=json

The list of features should include "Key Management Transparent Data Encryption".

Installing the Vault EKM provider

Configuring Vault

The EKM provider requires AppRole auth and the Transit secret engine to be setup on the Vault server. The steps below can be used to configure Vault ready for the EKM provider to use it.

Note: rsa-2048 is currently the only supported key type.

  1. Set up AppRole auth:

    vault auth enable approlevault write auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role \    token_ttl=20m \    max_token_ttl=30m \    token_policies=tde-policy

Note: After authenticating to Vault with the AppRole, the EKM provider will re-use the token it receives until it expires, at which point it will authenticate using the AppRole credentials again; it will not attempt to renew its token. The example AppRole configuraiton here will work for this, but keep that in mind if you choose to use a different AppRole configuration.

  1. Retrieve the AppRole ID and secret ID for use later when configuring SQL Server:

    vault read auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/role-idvault write -f auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/secret-id

  2. Enable the transit secret engine and create a key:

    vault secrets enable transitvault write -f transit/keys/ekm-encryption-key type="rsa-2048"

  3. Create a policy for the Vault EKM provider to use. The following policy has the minimum required permissions:

    vault policy write tde-policy -<<EOFpath "transit/keys/ekm-encryption-key" {    capabilities = ["create", "read", "update", "delete"]}path "transit/keys" {    capabilities = ["list"]}path "transit/encrypt/ekm-encryption-key" {    capabilities = ["update"]}path "transit/decrypt/ekm-encryption-key" {    capabilities = ["update"]}path "sys/license/status" {    capabilities = ["read"]}EOF

Configuring SQL server

The remaining steps are all run on the database server.

Install the EKM provider on the server

  1. Download and run the latest Vault EKM provider installer from releases.hashicorp.com
  2. Enter your Vault server's address when prompted and complete the installer
  3. If you need to configure non-default namespace or mount paths for your AppRole and Transit engines, see configuration.

Configure the EKM provider using SQL

Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, and run the queries below to complete installation.

  1. Enable the EKM feature and create a cryptographic provider using the folder you just installed the EKM provider into.

    -- Enable advanced optionsUSE master;GOEXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;GORECONFIGURE;GO-- Enable EKM providerEXEC sp_configure 'EKM provider enabled', 1;GORECONFIGURE;GOCREATE CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProviderFROM FILE = 'C:\Program Files\HashiCorp\Transit Vault EKM Provider\TransitVaultEKM.dll'GO

  2. Next, create credentials for an admin to use EKM with your AppRole role and secret ID from above:

    -- Replace <approle-role-id> and <approle-secret-id> with the values from-- the earlier vault commands:-- vault read auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key/role-id-- vault write -f auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key/secret-idCREATE CREDENTIAL TransitVaultCredentials    WITH IDENTITY = '<approle-role-id>',    SECRET = '<approle-secret-id>'FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider;GO-- Replace <domain>\<login> with the SQL Server administrator's loginALTER LOGIN "<domain>\<login>" ADD CREDENTIAL TransitVaultCredentials;

  3. You can now create an asymmetric key using the transit key set up earlier:

    CREATE ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetricFROM PROVIDER TransitVaultProviderWITHCREATION_DISPOSITION = OPEN_EXISTING,PROVIDER_KEY_NAME = 'ekm-encryption-key';

    Note: This is the first step at which the EKM provider will communicate with Vault. If Vault is misconfigured, this step is likely to fail. See troubleshooting for tips on specific error codes.

  4. Create another login from the new asymmetric key:

     -- Replace <approle-role-id> and <approle-secret-id> with the values from-- the earlier vault commands againCREATE CREDENTIAL TransitVaultTDECredentials    WITH IDENTITY = '<approle-role-id>',    SECRET = '<approle-secret-id>'FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider;GOCREATE LOGIN TransitVaultTDELoginFROM ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric;GOALTER LOGIN TransitVaultTDELoginADD CREDENTIAL TransitVaultTDECredentials;GO

  5. Finally, you can enable TDE and protect the database encryption key with the asymmetric key managed by Vault's Transit secret engine:

    CREATE DATABASE TestTDEGOUSE TestTDE;GOCREATE DATABASE ENCRYPTION KEYWITH ALGORITHM = AES_256ENCRYPTION BY SERVER ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric;GOALTER DATABASE TestTDESET ENCRYPTION ON;GO

  6. Check the status of database encryption using the following queries:

    SELECT * FROM sys.dm_database_encryption_keys;SELECT (SELECT name FROM sys.databases WHERE database_id = k.database_id) as name,    encryption_state, key_algorithm, key_length,    encryptor_type, encryption_state_desc, encryption_scan_state_desc FROM sys.dm_database_encryption_keys k;

Key rotation

See key rotation for guidance on rotating the encryption keys.

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