---
layout: docs
page_title: Raft - Storage Backends - Configuration
sidebar_title: Raft
description: |-

  The Raft storage backend is used to persist Vault's data. Unlike all the other
  storage backends, this backend does not operate from a single source for the
  data. Instead all the nodes in a Vault cluster will have a replicated copy of
  the entire data. The data is replicated across the nodes using the Raft
  Consensus Algorithm.
---

# Raft Storage Backend

~> **NOTE:** Vault's Integrated Storage is currently a **_Beta_**
feature and not recommended for deployment in production.

The Raft storage backend is used to persist Vault's data. Unlike other storage
backends, Raft storage does not operate from a single source of data. Instead
all the nodes in a Vault cluster will have a replicated copy of Vault's data.
Data gets replicated across the all the nodes via the [Raft Consensus
Algorithm][raft].

- **High Availability** – the Raft storage backend supports high availability.

- **HashiCorp Supported** – the Raft storage backend is officially supported
  by HashiCorp.

```hcl
storage "raft" {
  path = "/path/to/raft/data"
  node_id = "raft_node_1"
}
cluster_addr = "http://127.0.0.1:8201"
```

~> **Note:** When using the Raft storage backend, it is required to provide
`cluster_addr` to indicate the address and port to be used for communication
between the nodes in the Raft cluster.

~> **Note:** Raft cannot be used as the configured `ha_storage` backend at this
time. To use Raft for HA coordination users must also use Raft for storage and
set `ha_enabled = true`.

## `raft` Parameters

- `path` `(string: "")` – The file system path where all the Vault data gets
  stored.
  This value can be overridden by setting the `VAULT_RAFT_PATH` environment variable.

- `node_id` `(string: "")` - The identifier for the node in the Raft cluster.
  This value can be overridden by setting the `VAULT_RAFT_NODE_ID` environment variable.

[raft]: https://raft.github.io/ 'The Raft Consensus Algorithm'