---
layout: docs
page_title: Clients and entities
description: |-
  Technical overview covering the concept of clients, entities, and entity IDs
  in Vault 
---

# Clients and entities

Anything that connects and authenticates to Vault to accomplish a task is a
**client**. For example, a user logging into a cluster to manage policies or a
machine-based system (application or cloud service) requesting a database token
are both considered clients.

![Vault Client Workflows](https://www.datocms-assets.com/2885/1617325020-valult-client-workflows.png)

While there are many different potential clients, the most common are:

1. **Human users** interacting directly with Vault.
1. **Applications and microservices**.
1. **Servers and platforms** like VMs, Docker containers, or Kubernetes pods.
1. **Orchestrators** like Nomad, Terraform, Ansible, ACME, and other continuous
   integration / continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
1. **Vault agents and proxies** that act on behalf of an application or
   microservice.

## Identity and entity assignment

Authorized clients can connect to Vault with a variety of authentication methods.

Authorization source       | AuthN method
-------------------------- | ---------------------------------
Externally managed or SSO  | Active Directory, LDAP, OIDC, JWT, GitHub, username+password
Platform- or server-based  | Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Azure, Cert, Cloud Foundry
Self                       | AppRole, tokens with no associated authN path or role

![Vault client types](https://www.datocms-assets.com/2885/1617325030-vault-clients.png)

When a client authenticates, Vault assigns a unique identifier
(**client entity**) in the [Vault identity system](/vault/docs/secrets/identity)
based on the authentication method used or a previously assigned alias.
**Entity aliases** let clients authenticate with multiple methods but still be
associated with a single policy, share resources, and count as the same entity,
regardless of the authentication method used for a particular session.

## Standard entity assignments

@include "authn-names.mdx"

Each authentication method has a unique ID string that corresponds to a client
entity used for telemetry. For example, a microservice authenticating with
AppRole takes the associated role ID as the entity. If you are running at scale
and have multiple copies of the microservices using the same role id, the full
set of instances will share the same identifier.

As a result, it is critical that you configure different clients
(microservices, humans, applications, services, platforms, servers, or pipelines)
in a way that results in distinct clients having unique identifiers. For example,
the role IDs should be different **between** two microservices, MicroserviceA and
MicroServiceB, even if the **specific instances** of MicroServiceA and
MicroServiceB share a common role ID.

## Entity assignment with ACME

Vault treats all ACME connections that authenticate under the same certificate
identifier (domain) as the same **certificate entity** for client count
calculations.

For example:

- Authentication requests from two ACME clients living on different servers that
  request the same set of certificate identifiers (the combination of CN, DNS SANs,
  and IP SANs) are assigned to the same certificate entity.
- Multiple requests for the same certificate identifier from a single ACME
  client are assigned to the same certificate entity.
- Two authentication requests from a single ACME client for different
  certificate identifiers are assigned to separate certificate entities.

## Entity assignment with namespaces

A namespace represents a isolated, logical space within a single Vault
cluster and is typically used for administrative purposes.

When a client authenticates **within a given namespace**, Vault assigns the same
client entity to activities within any child namespaces because the namespaces
exist within the same larger scope.

When a client authenticates **across namespace boundaries**, Vault treats the
single client as two distinct entities because the client is operating
across different scopes with different policy assignments and resources.

For example:

- Different requests under parent and child namespaces from a single client
  authenticated under the **parent** namespace are assigned **the same entity
  ID**. All the client activities occur **within** the boundaries of the
  namespace referenced in the original authentication request.
- Different requests under parent and child namespaces from a single client
  authenticated under the **child** namespace are assigned **different entity
  IDs**. Some of the client activities occur **outside** the boundaries of the
  namespace referenced in the original authentication request.
- Requests by the same client to two different namespaces, NAMESPACE<sub>A</sub>
  and NAMESPACE<sub>B</sub> are assigned **different entity IDs**.

## Entity assignment with non-entity tokens

Vault uses tokens as the core method for authentication. You can use tokens to
authenticate directly, or use token [auth methods](/vault/docs/concepts/auth)
to dynamically generate tokens based on external identities.

When clients authenticate with the [token auth method](/vault/docs/auth/token)
**without** a client identity, the result is a **non-entity token**. For example,
a service might use the token authentication method to create a token for a user
whose explicit identity is unknown. 

Ultimately, non-entity tokens trace back to a particular client or purpose so
Vault assigns unique entity IDs to non-entity tokens based on a combination of
the:

- assigned entity alias name (if present),
- associated policies, and
- namespace under which the token was created.

In **rare** cases, tokens may be created outside of the Vault identity system
**without** an associated entity or identity. Vault treats every unaffiliated
token as a unique client for production usage. We strongly discourage the use of
unaffiliated tokens and recommend that you always associate a token with an
entity alias and token role.

<Note title="Behavior change in Vault 1.9+">
  As of Vault 1.9, all non-entity tokens with the same namespace and policy
  assignments are treated as the same client entity. Prior to Vault 1.9, every
  non-entity token was treated as a unique client entity, which drastically
  inflated telemetry around client count.

  If you are using Vault 1.8 or earlier, and need to address client count
  inflation without upgrading, we recommend creating a
  [token role](/vault/api-docs/auth/token#create-update-token-role) with
  allowable entity aliases and assigning all tokens to an appropriate
  [role and entity alias name](/vault/api-docs/auth/token#create-token) before
  using them.
</Note>

@include "content-footer-title.mdx"

<Tabs>

<Tab heading="Related concepts">
<ul>
  <li>
    <a href="/vault/docs/concepts/client-count/counting">Client count calculation</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="/vault/docs/concepts/client-count/faq">Client count FAQ</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="/vault/docs/secrets/pki/best-practices/cicd-pipelines">Best practices for CI/CD pipelines</a>
  </li>
</ul>
</Tab>

<Tab heading="Related tutorials">
<ul>
  <li>
    <a href="/vault/tutorials/auth-methods/identity">Identity: Entities and Groups</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="/vault/tutorials/enterprise/namespaces">Secure Multi-Tenancy with Namespaces</a>
  </li>
</ul>
</Tab>

<Tab heading="Other resources">
<ul>
  <li>
    Article: <a href="https://www.hashicorp.com/identity-based-security-and-low-trust-networks">
      Identity-based Security and Low-trust Networks
    </a>
  </li>
</ul>
</Tab>

</Tabs>
