Prerequisites: Chart version should be > 4.14.0

External Secrets Operator is a Kubernetes operator that integrates external secret management systems like AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, Google Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault and many more. The operator reads information from external APIs and automatically injects the values into a Kubernetes Secret.

Install External Secret Operator

Before creating any external secrets on Devtron, External Secret Operator must be installed on the target cluster. External Secret Operator allows you to use external secret management systems (e.g., AWS Secrets Manager, Hashicorp Vault, Azure Secrets Manager, Google Secrets Manager etc.) to securely inject secrets in Kubernetes.

You can install External Secrets Operator using charts store:

1. Go to charts store.

2. Search chart with name external-secrets.

1. If you don't find any chart with this name i.e external-secrets, add chart repository using repository url https://charts.external-secrets.io. Please follow this documentation for adding chart repository.

2. Deploy the chart.

To incorporate secrets from HashiCorp Vault, you need to create a generic Kubernetes secret that will be used for vault authentication. This involves creating a Kubernetes secret in the specific namespace where your application will be deployed. The secret should store the base64-encoded password or token obtained from vault. To simplify the process, you can utilize the Devtron generic chart. An example yaml is given below:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
type: Opaque
data:
   token: <vault-password>
metadata:
   name: vault-token
   namespace: <namespace>

Note: Please note that you don't need to create the Kubernetes secret every time you create an External Secret for the corresponding namespace.

Once you have created the generic secret, follow these steps in the application's Secrets section:

1. Create a new secret

To add a new secret to the application, go to the App Configuration section of the application. Then, navigate to the left pane and select the Secrets option and click the Add Secret button.

2. Select HashiCorp Vault as the External Secret Operator

After clicking the Add Secret button, select HashiCorp Vault from the dropdown menu for the Data type option. Provide a name for the secret you are creating, and then proceed to configure the external secret as described in the next step.

3. Configure the secret

To configure the external secret that will be fetched from HashiCorp Vault for your application, you will need to provide specific details using the following key-value pairs:

4. Save the secret

After configuring the external secret from HashiCorp Vault, proceed to save the secret by clicking the Save button.

By following the steps mentioned above and configuring these values correctly, you can seamlessly fetch and utilize external secrets from HashiCorp Vault within your application environment by deploying the application.

To add secrets from Google Secrets Manager, follow the steps mentioned below :

1. Go to Google cloud console and create a Service Account.

2. Assign roles to the service account.

3. Add and create a new key.

5. Create a Kubernetes secret in the namespace in which the application is to be deployed using base64 encoded service account key.

You can use devtron generic chart for this.

6. After creating the generic secret, navigate to Secrets section of the application and click Add Secret to add a new secret.

7. Select Google Secrets Manager under External Secret Operator (ESO) from the dropdown of Data type.

8. Configure secret:

9. Save secret.

To add secrets from AWS Secrets Manager, we need to create a generic Kubernetes secret for AWS authentication.

Create a Kubernetes secret in the namespace in which the application is to be deployed using base64 encoded AWS access-key and secret-access-key. You can use a Devtron generic chart for it.

Note: You don't have to create the Kubernetes secret every time you create external secret for the respective namespace.

After creating the generic secret, navigate to Secrets section of the application and follow the steps mentioned below :

1. Click Add Secret to add a new secret

2. Select AWS Secret Manager under External Secret Operator (ESO) from the dropdown of Data type

3. Configure the secret

4. Save the secret

ESO AWS secrets Manager Setup with Devtron using ClusterSecretsStore

ClusterSecretStore provides a secure and centralized storage solution for managing and accessing sensitive information, such as passwords, API keys, certificates, and other credentials, within a cluster or application environment.

Requirement: Devtron deployment template chart version should be 4.17 and above.

To setup ESO AWS secrets manager with Devtron using ClusterSecretsStore, follow the mentined steps:

1. Create a secret for AWS authentication

Create a Kubernetes secret in any namespace using base64 encoded AWS access-key and secret-access-key. You can use the devtron generic chart for this.

2. Create a ClusterSecretStore

Create a ClusterSecretStore using the secret created for AWS authentication in step 1.

3. Create a secret in the application using ESO AWS Secrets Manager

Go to the application where you want to create an external secret. Navigate to secrets section under application configuration and create a secret using ESO AWS Secrets Manager.