vault-k8s VS argocd-vault-plugin

enabled: true # Use the Vault K8s Image https://github.com/hashicorp/vault-k8s/ image: repository: "hashicorp/vault-k8s" tag: "latest" resources: requests: memory: 256Mi cpu: 250m limits: memory: 256Mi cpu: 250m server: # These Resource Limits are in line with node requirements in the # Vault Reference Architecture for a Small Cluster resources: requests: memory: 8Gi cpu: 2000m limits: memory: 16Gi cpu: 2000m # For HA configuration and because we need to manually init the vault, # we need to define custom readiness/liveness Probe settings readinessProbe: enabled: true path: "/v1/sys/health?standbyok=true&sealedcode=204&uninitcode=204" livenessProbe: enabled: true path: "/v1/sys/health?standbyok=true" initialDelaySeconds: 60 # extraEnvironmentVars is a list of extra environment variables to set with the stateful set. These could be # used to include variables required for auto-unseal. extraEnvironmentVars: VAULT_CACERT: /vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt # extraVolumes is a list of extra volumes to mount. These will be exposed # to Vault in the path \/vault/userconfig//`. extraVolumes: - type: secret name: tls-ca - type: secret name: tls-listener-1 - type: secret name: tls-server # This configures the Vault Statefulset to create a PVC for audit logs. # See https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/audit/index.html to know more auditStorage: enabled: true storageClass: solidfire-gold dataStorage: enabled: true storageClass: solidfire-gold standalone: enabled: false # Run Vault in "HA" mode. ha: enabled: true replicas: 3 raft: enabled: true setNodeId: true config: |          ui = true          listener "tcp" {            address = "0.0.0.0:8200"            cluster_address = "0.0.0.0:8201"            tls_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-listener-1/server.crt"            tls_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-listener-1/server.key"            tls_client_ca_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"          }          storage "raft" {            path = "/vault/data"            retry_join {              leader_api_addr = "https://vault-0.vault-internal:8200"`               leader_ca_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"               leader_client_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.crt"               leader_client_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.key"             }             retry_join {               leader_api_addr = "https://vault-1.vault-internal:8200"               leader_ca_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"               leader_client_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.crt"               leader_client_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.key"             }             retry_join {               leader_api_addr = "https://vault-2.vault-internal:8200"               leader_ca_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"               leader_client_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.crt"               leader_client_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.key"             }             autopilot {               cleanup_dead_servers = "true"               last_contact_threshold = "200ms"               last_contact_failure_threshold = "10m"               max_trailing_logs = 250000               min_quorum = 3               server_stabilization_time = "10s"             }           }           service_registration "kubernetes" {} # Vault UI ui: enabled: true serviceType: "LoadBalancer" externalPort: 8443 loadBalancerIP: 10.193.124.70 loadBalancerSourceRanges: - 0.0.0.0/0

vault: global: enabled: true tlsDisable: false injector: enabled: true # Use the Vault K8s Image https://github.com/hashicorp/vault-k8s/ image: repository: "hashicorp/vault-k8s" tag: "latest" resources: requests: memory: 256Mi cpu: 250m limits: memory: 256Mi cpu: 250m server: # These Resource Limits are in line with node requirements in the # Vault Reference Architecture for a Small Cluster resources: requests: memory: 8Gi cpu: 2000m limits: memory: 16Gi cpu: 2000m # For HA configuration and because we need to manually init the vault, # we need to define custom readiness/liveness Probe settings readinessProbe: enabled: true path: "/v1/sys/health?standbyok=true&sealedcode=204&uninitcode=204" livenessProbe: enabled: true path: "/v1/sys/health?standbyok=true" initialDelaySeconds: 60 # extraEnvironmentVars is a list of extra environment variables to set with the stateful set. These could be # used to include variables required for auto-unseal. extraEnvironmentVars: VAULT_CACERT: /vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt # extraVolumes is a list of extra volumes to mount. These will be exposed # to Vault in the path \/vault/userconfig//`. extraVolumes: - type: secret name: tls-listener - type: secret name: tls-server - type: secret name: tls-ca # This configures the Vault Statefulset to create a PVC for audit logs. # See https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/audit/index.html to know more auditStorage: enabled: true storageClass: solidfire-gold dataStorage: enabled: true storageClass: solidfire-gold standalone: enabled: false # Run Vault in "HA" mode. ha: enabled: true replicas: 3 raft: enabled: true setNodeId: true config: |          ui = true          listener "tcp" {            address = "[::]:8200"            cluster_address = "[::]:8201"            tls_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-listener/server.crt"            tls_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-listener/server.key"            tls_client_ca_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"          }          storage "raft" {            path = "/vault/data"            retry_join {              leader_api_addr = "https://vault-0.vault-internal:8200"`               leader_ca_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"               leader_client_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.crt"               leader_client_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.key"             }             retry_join {               leader_api_addr = "https://vault-1.vault-internal:8200"               leader_ca_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"               leader_client_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.crt"               leader_client_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.key"             }             retry_join {               leader_api_addr = "https://vault-2.vault-internal:8200"               leader_ca_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-ca/ca.crt"               leader_client_cert_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.crt"               leader_client_key_file = "/vault/userconfig/tls-server/server.key"             }             autopilot {               cleanup_dead_servers = "true"               last_contact_threshold = "200ms"               last_contact_failure_threshold = "10m"               max_trailing_logs = 250000               min_quorum = 5               server_stabilization_time = "10s"             }           }           service_registration "kubernetes" {} # Vault UI ui: enabled: true serviceType: "LoadBalancer" serviceNodePort: null externalPort: 8200

Hashicorp Vault k8s is an operator that modifies pods via a mutating webhook to connect between vault and pod via sidecars (additional containers) to provide secrets. This has the major advantage that no secret objects are created in Kubernetes here. The disadvantage is that this way only works with Vault.

They’ve made it so you can define the order that the vault sidecar starts in, so that the proxy will be running first. https://github.com/hashicorp/vault-k8s/issues/53

ArgoCD supports SOPS with the vault Plugin.

repoServer: rbac: - verbs: - get - list - watch apiGroups: - '' resources: - secrets - configmaps initContainers: - name: download-tools image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8 env: - name: AVP_VERSION value: 1.11.0 command: [sh, -c] args: - >- curl -L https://github.com/argoproj-labs/argocd-vault-plugin/releases/download/v$(AVP_VERSION)/argocd-vault-plugin_$(AVP_VERSION)_linux_amd64 -o argocd-vault-plugin && chmod +x argocd-vault-plugin && mv argocd-vault-plugin /custom-tools/ volumeMounts: - mountPath: /custom-tools name: custom-tools extraContainers: - name: avp-helm command: [/var/run/argocd/argocd-cmp-server] image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.4.8 securityContext: runAsNonRoot: true runAsUser: 999 volumeMounts: - mountPath: /var/run/argocd name: var-files - mountPath: /home/argocd/cmp-server/plugins name: plugins - mountPath: /tmp name: tmp-dir - mountPath: /home/argocd/cmp-server/config name: cmp-plugin - name: custom-tools subPath: argocd-vault-plugin mountPath: /usr/local/bin/argocd-vault-plugin volumes: - configMap: name: cmp-plugin name: cmp-plugin - name: custom-tools emptyDir: {} - name: tmp-dir emptyDir: {} # If you face issue with ArgoCD CRDs installation, then uncomment below section to disable it #crds: # install: false

argoproj-labs/argocd-vault-plugin

We’re using https://github.com/argoproj-labs/argocd-vault-plugin which allows you to define secrets in git (works with more backends than just hashicorp vault despite the name). The documentation took me a bit to figure out, but so far it works.

Argo CD Vault plugin

I used argocd vault plugin https://github.com/IBM/argocd-vault-plugin