a3dfde5cec
* conversion stage 1 * correct image paths * add sidebar title to frontmatter * docs/concepts and docs/internals * configuration docs and multi-level nav corrections * commands docs, index file corrections, small item nav correction * secrets converted * auth * add enterprise and agent docs * add extra dividers * secret section, wip * correct sidebar nav title in front matter for apu section, start working on api items * auth and backend, a couple directory structure fixes * remove old docs * intro side nav converted * reset sidebar styles, add hashi-global-styles * basic styling for nav sidebar * folder collapse functionality * patch up border length on last list item * wip restructure for content component * taking middleman hacking to the extreme, but its working * small css fix * add new mega nav * fix a small mistake from the rebase * fix a content resolution issue with middleman * title a couple missing docs pages * update deps, remove temporary markup * community page * footer to layout, community page css adjustments * wip downloads page * deps updated, downloads page ready * fix community page * homepage progress * add components, adjust spacing * docs and api landing pages * a bunch of fixes, add docs and api landing pages * update deps, add deploy scripts * add readme note * update deploy command * overview page, index title * Update doc fields Note this still requires the link fields to be populated -- this is solely related to copy on the description fields * Update api_basic_categories.yml Updated API category descriptions. Like the document descriptions you'll still need to update the link headers to the proper target pages. * Add bottom hero, adjust CSS, responsive friendly * Add mega nav title * homepage adjustments, asset boosts * small fixes * docs page styling fixes * meganav title * some category link corrections * Update API categories page updated to reflect the second level headings for api categories * Update docs_detailed_categories.yml Updated to represent the existing docs structure * Update docs_detailed_categories.yml * docs page data fix, extra operator page remove * api data fix * fix makefile * update deps, add product subnav to docs and api landing pages * Rearrange non-hands-on guides to _docs_ Since there is no place for these on learn.hashicorp, we'll put them under _docs_. * WIP Redirects for guides to docs * content and component updates * font weight hotfix, redirects * fix guides and intro sidenavs * fix some redirects * small style tweaks * Redirects to learn and internally to docs * Remove redirect to `/vault` * Remove `.html` from destination on redirects * fix incorrect index redirect * final touchups * address feedback from michell for makefile and product downloads
57 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
57 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "docs"
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page_title: "Use Cases"
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sidebar_title: "Use Cases"
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sidebar_current: "use-cases"
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description: |-
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This page lists some concrete use cases for Vault, but the possible use cases are much broader than what we cover.
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---
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# Use Cases
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Before understanding use cases, it's useful to know [what Vault is](/intro/index.html).
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This page lists some concrete use cases for Vault, but the possible use cases are
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much broader than what we cover.
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#### General Secret Storage
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At a bare minimum, Vault can be used for the storage of any secrets. For
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example, Vault would be a fantastic way to store sensitive environment variables,
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database credentials, API keys, etc.
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Compare this with the current way to store these which might be
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plaintext in files, configuration management, a database, etc. It would be
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much safer to query these using `vault read` or the API. This protects
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the plaintext version of these secrets as well as records access in the Vault
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audit log.
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#### Employee Credential Storage
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While this overlaps with "General Secret Storage", Vault is a good mechanism
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for storing credentials that employees share to access web services. The
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audit log mechanism lets you know what secrets an employee accessed and
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when an employee leaves, it is easier to roll keys and understand which keys
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have and haven't been rolled.
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#### API Key Generation for Scripts
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The "dynamic secrets" feature of Vault is ideal for scripts: an AWS
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access key can be generated for the duration of a script, then revoked.
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The keypair will not exist before or after the script runs, and the
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creation of the keys are completely logged.
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This is an improvement over using something like Amazon IAM but still
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effectively hardcoding limited-access access tokens in various places.
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#### Data Encryption
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In addition to being able to store secrets, Vault can be used to
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encrypt/decrypt data that is stored elsewhere. The primary use of this is
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to allow applications to encrypt their data while still storing it in the
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primary data store.
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The benefit of this is that developers do not need to worry about how to
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properly encrypt data. The responsibility of encryption is on Vault
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and the security team managing it, and developers just encrypt/decrypt
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data as needed.
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