41 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
41 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
layout: "docs"
|
|
page_title: "Auth Backends"
|
|
sidebar_current: "docs-auth"
|
|
description: |-
|
|
Auth backends are mountable backends that perform authentication for Vault.
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Auth Backends
|
|
|
|
Auth backends are the components in Vault that perform authentication
|
|
and are responsible for assigning identity and a set of policies to a
|
|
user.
|
|
|
|
Having multiple auth backends enables you to use an auth backend
|
|
that makes the sense for your use case of Vault and your organization.
|
|
|
|
For example, on developer machines, the [GitHub auth backend](/docs/auth/github.html)
|
|
is easiest to use. But for servers the [App ID](/docs/auth/app-id.html)
|
|
backend is the recommended choice.
|
|
|
|
To learn more about authentication, see the
|
|
[authentication concepts page](/docs/concepts/auth.html).
|
|
|
|
## Enabling/Disabling Auth Backends
|
|
|
|
Auth backends can be enabled/disabled using the CLI or the API.
|
|
|
|
When enabled, auth backends are similar to [secret backends](/docs/secret/index.html):
|
|
they are mounted within the Vault mount table and can be accessed
|
|
and configured using the standard read/write API. The only difference
|
|
is that all auth backends are mounted underneath the `auth/` prefix.
|
|
|
|
By default, auth backends are mounted to `auth/<type>`. For example,
|
|
if you enable "github", then you can interact with it at `auth/github`.
|
|
However, this path is customizable, allowing users with advanced use
|
|
cases to mount a single auth backend multiple times.
|
|
|
|
When an auth backend is disabled, all users authenticated via that
|
|
backend are automatically logged out.
|