---
layout: guides
page_title: Identity and Access Management - Guides
description: >-
  Once a Vault instance has been installed, the next step is to configure auth

  backends, secret backends, and manage keys. Vault configuration guides
  addresses

  key concepts in configuring your Vault application.
---

# Identity and Access Management

This guide walks you through Identity and Access Management topics.

- [Secure Introduction of Vault Clients](/guides/identity/secure-intro)
  explains the mechanism of the client authentication against a Vault server.

- [Policies](/guides/identity/policies) are used to instrument
  Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) by specifying access privileges. Authoring of
  policies is probably the first step the Vault administrator performs. This guide
  walks you through creating example policies for `admin` and `provisioner` users.

- [ACL Policy Path Templating](/guides/identity/policy-templating) guide
  demonstrates templated policy paths to allow non-static paths.

- [AppRole Pull Authentication](/guides/identity/authentication) guide
  that introduces the steps to generate tokens for machines or apps by enabling
  AppRole auth method.

- [AppRole with Terraform and Chef](/guides/identity/approle-trusted-entities)
  guide explains how AppRole auth method integrates with Terraform and Chef.
  This guide is for anyone who wishes to reproduce the demo introduced during
  the [Delivering Secret Zero: Vault AppRole with Terraform and
  Chef](https://www.hashicorp.com/resources/delivering-secret-zero-vault-approle-terraform-chef)
  webinar.

- [Token and Leases](/guides/identity/lease) guide helps you
  understand how tokens and leases work in Vault. The understanding of the
  lease hierarchy and expiration mechanism helps you plan for break glass
  procedures and more.

- [Identity - Entities & Groups](/guides/identity/identity) guide
  demonstrates the usage of _Entities_ and _Groups_ to manage Vault clients'
  identity.

## Vault Enterprise

- [Sentinel Policies](/guides/identity/sentinel) guide
  walks through the creation and usage of _Role Governing Policies_ (RGPs) and
  _Endpoint Governing Policies_ (EGPs) in Vault.

- [Control Groups](/guides/identity/control-groups) can be used to enforce
  additional authorization factors before the request can be completed. This
  guide walks through the implementation of a Control Group.