Plumb disabling caches through the policy store

logical/system_view.go

@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ type SystemView interface {
 	// when the stored CRL will be removed during the unmounting process
 	// anyways), we can ignore the errors to allow unmounting to complete.
 	Tainted() bool
+
+	// Returns true if caching is disabled. If true, no caches should be used,
+	// despite known slowdowns.
+	CacheDisabled() bool
 }
 
 type StaticSystemView struct {
@@ -33,6 +37,7 @@ type StaticSystemView struct {
 	MaxLeaseTTLVal     time.Duration
 	SudoPrivilegeVal   bool
 	TaintedVal         bool
+	CacheDisabledVal   bool
 }
 
 func (d StaticSystemView) DefaultLeaseTTL() time.Duration {
@@ -50,3 +55,7 @@ func (d StaticSystemView) SudoPrivilege(path string, token string) bool {
 func (d StaticSystemView) Tainted() bool {
 	return d.TaintedVal
 }
+
+func (d StaticSystemView) CacheDisabled() bool {
+	return d.CacheDisabledVal
+}

vault/core.go

@@ -218,6 +218,9 @@ type Core struct {
 	maxLeaseTTL     time.Duration
 
 	logger *log.Logger
+
+	// cacheDisabled indicates whether caches are disabled
+	cacheDisabled bool
 }
 
 // CoreConfig is used to parameterize a core
@@ -315,6 +318,7 @@ func NewCore(conf *CoreConfig) (*Core, error) {
 		logger:          conf.Logger,
 		defaultLeaseTTL: conf.DefaultLeaseTTL,
 		maxLeaseTTL:     conf.MaxLeaseTTL,
+		cacheDisabled:   conf.DisableCache,
 	}
 
 	// Setup the backends

vault/dynamic_system_view.go

@@ -69,3 +69,8 @@ func (d dynamicSystemView) fetchTTLs() (def, max time.Duration) {
 func (d dynamicSystemView) Tainted() bool {
 	return d.mountEntry.Tainted
 }
+
+// CacheDisabled indicates whether to use caching behavior
+func (d dynamicSystemView) CacheDisabled() bool {
+	return d.core.cacheDisabled
+}

vault/policy_store.go

@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ const (
 // PolicyStore is used to provide durable storage of policy, and to
 // manage ACLs associated with them.
 type PolicyStore struct {
-	view *BarrierView
-	lru  *lru.TwoQueueCache
+	view   *BarrierView
+	lru    *lru.TwoQueueCache
+	system logical.SystemView
 }
 
 // PolicyEntry is used to store a policy by name
@@ -34,12 +35,16 @@ type PolicyEntry struct {
 
 // NewPolicyStore creates a new PolicyStore that is backed
 // using a given view. It used used to durable store and manage named policy.
-func NewPolicyStore(view *BarrierView) *PolicyStore {
-	cache, _ := lru.New2Q(policyCacheSize)
+func NewPolicyStore(view *BarrierView, system logical.SystemView) *PolicyStore {
 	p := &PolicyStore{
-		view: view,
-		lru:  cache,
+		view:   view,
+		system: system,
 	}
+	if !system.CacheDisabled() {
+		cache, _ := lru.New2Q(policyCacheSize)
+		p.lru = cache
+	}
+
 	return p
 }
 
@@ -50,7 +55,7 @@ func (c *Core) setupPolicyStore() error {
 	view := c.systemBarrierView.SubView(policySubPath)
 
 	// Create the policy store
-	c.policyStore = NewPolicyStore(view)
+	c.policyStore = NewPolicyStore(view, &dynamicSystemView{core: c})
 
 	// Ensure that the default policy exists, and if not, create it
 	policy, err := c.policyStore.GetPolicy("default")
@@ -95,23 +100,29 @@ func (ps *PolicyStore) SetPolicy(p *Policy) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to persist policy: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	// Update the LRU cache
-	ps.lru.Add(p.Name, p)
+	if !ps.system.CacheDisabled() {
+		// Update the LRU cache
+		ps.lru.Add(p.Name, p)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
 // GetPolicy is used to fetch the named policy
 func (ps *PolicyStore) GetPolicy(name string) (*Policy, error) {
 	defer metrics.MeasureSince([]string{"policy", "get_policy"}, time.Now())
-	// Check for cached policy
-	if raw, ok := ps.lru.Get(name); ok {
-		return raw.(*Policy), nil
+	if !ps.system.CacheDisabled() {
+		// Check for cached policy
+		if raw, ok := ps.lru.Get(name); ok {
+			return raw.(*Policy), nil
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Special case the root policy
 	if name == "root" {
 		p := &Policy{Name: "root"}
-		ps.lru.Add(p.Name, p)
+		if !ps.system.CacheDisabled() {
+			ps.lru.Add(p.Name, p)
+		}
 		return p, nil
 	}
 
@@ -152,8 +163,11 @@ func (ps *PolicyStore) GetPolicy(name string) (*Policy, error) {
 		policy = p
 	}
 
-	// Update the LRU cache
-	ps.lru.Add(name, policy)
+	if !ps.system.CacheDisabled() {
+		// Update the LRU cache
+		ps.lru.Add(name, policy)
+	}
+
 	return policy, nil
 }
 
@@ -178,8 +192,10 @@ func (ps *PolicyStore) DeletePolicy(name string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to delete policy: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	// Clear the cache
-	ps.lru.Remove(name)
+	if !ps.system.CacheDisabled() {
+		// Clear the cache
+		ps.lru.Remove(name)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 

vault/policy_store_test.go

@@ -10,7 +10,16 @@ import (
 func mockPolicyStore(t *testing.T) *PolicyStore {
 	_, barrier, _ := mockBarrier(t)
 	view := NewBarrierView(barrier, "foo/")
-	p := NewPolicyStore(view)
+	p := NewPolicyStore(view, logical.TestSystemView())
+	return p
+}
+
+func mockPolicyStoreNoCache(t *testing.T) *PolicyStore {
+	sysView := logical.TestSystemView()
+	sysView.CacheDisabledVal = true
+	_, barrier, _ := mockBarrier(t)
+	view := NewBarrierView(barrier, "foo/")
+	p := NewPolicyStore(view, sysView)
 	return p
 }
 
@@ -44,7 +53,13 @@ func TestPolicyStore_Root(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestPolicyStore_CRUD(t *testing.T) {
 	ps := mockPolicyStore(t)
+	testPolicyStore_CRUD(t, ps)
 
+	ps = mockPolicyStoreNoCache(t)
+	testPolicyStore_CRUD(t, ps)
+}
+
+func testPolicyStore_CRUD(t *testing.T, ps *PolicyStore) {
 	// Get should return nothing
 	p, err := ps.GetPolicy("dev")
 	if err != nil {

website/source/docs/config/index.html.md

@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ sending a SIGHUP to the server process. These are denoted below.
   "tcp" is currently the only option available. A full reference for the
    inner syntax is below.
 
-* `disable_cache` (optional) - A boolean. If true, this will disable the
-  read cache used by the physical storage subsystem. This will very
-  significantly impact performance.
+* `disable_cache` (optional) - A boolean. If true, this will disable all caches
+  within Vault, including the read cache used by the physical storage
+  subsystem. This will very significantly impact performance.
 
 * `disable_mlock` (optional) - A boolean. If true, this will disable the
   server from executing the `mlock` syscall to prevent memory from being