57 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
57 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
---
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layout: docs
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page_title: Dev Server Mode
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description: >-
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The dev server in Vault can be used for development or to experiment with
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Vault.
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---
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# "Dev" Server Mode
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You can start Vault as a server in "dev" mode like so: `vault server -dev`.
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This dev-mode server requires no further setup, and your local `vault` CLI will
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be authenticated to talk to it. This makes it easy to experiment with Vault or
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start a Vault instance for development. Every feature of Vault is available in
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"dev" mode. The `-dev` flag just short-circuits a lot of setup to insecure
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defaults.
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~> **Warning:** Never, ever, ever run a "dev" mode server in production.
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It is insecure and will lose data on every restart (since it stores data
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in-memory). It is only made for development or experimentation.
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## Properties
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The properties of the dev server (some can be overridden with command line
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flags or by specifying a configuration file):
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- **Initialized and unsealed** - The server will be automatically initialized
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and unsealed. You don't need to use `vault operator unseal`. It is ready
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for use immediately.
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- **In-memory storage** - All data is stored (encrypted) in-memory. Vault
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server doesn't require any file permissions.
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- **Bound to local address without TLS** - The server is listening on
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`127.0.0.1:8200` (the default server address) _without_ TLS.
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- **Automatically Authenticated** - The server stores your root access
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token so `vault` CLI access is ready to go. If you are accessing Vault
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via the API, you'll need to authenticate using the token printed out.
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- **Single unseal key** - The server is initialized with a single unseal
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key. The Vault is already unsealed, but if you want to experiment with
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seal/unseal, then only the single outputted key is required.
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- **Key Value store mounted** - A v2 KV secret engine is mounted at
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`secret/`. Please be aware that there are differences with v1 KV.
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If you want to use v1, use this flag `-dev-kv-v1`.
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## Use Case
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The dev server should be used for experimentation with Vault features, such
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as different auth methods, secrets engines, audit devices, etc.
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If you're new to Vault, you may want to pick up with [Your First Secret](/intro/getting-started/first-secret) in our getting started guide.
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In addition to experimentation, the dev server is very easy to automate
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for development environments.
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