open-vault/website/source/guides/operations/generate-root.html.md

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guides	Generate Root Tokens using Unseal Keys - Guides	Root Token Generation	guides-operations-generate-root	Generate a new root token using a threshold of unseal keys.

Generate Root Tokens Using Unseal Keys

It is generally considered a best practice to not persist root tokens. Instead a root token should be generated using Vault's operator generate-root command only when absolutely necessary. This guide demonstrates regenerating a root token.

1. Unseal the vault using the existing quorum of unseal keys. You do not need to be authenticated to generate a new root token, but the Vault must be unsealed and a quorum of unseal keys must be available.

   $ vault operator unseal
   # ...
   

Using OTP

In this method, an OTP is XORed with the generated token on final output.

1. Generate a one-time password (OTP) to use for XORing the resulting token:

   $ vault operator generate-root -generate-otp
   mOXx7iVimjE6LXQ2Zna6NA==
   

   Save this OTP because you will need it to get the decoded final root token.

2. Initialize a root token generation, providing the OTP code from the step above:

   $ vault operator generate-root -init -otp=mOXx7iVimjE6LXQ2Zna6NA==
   Nonce              f67f4da3-4ae4-68fb-4716-91da6b609c3e
   Started            true
   Progress           0/5
   Complete           false
   

   The nonce value should be distributed to all unseal key holders.

3. Each unseal key holder provides their unseal key:

   $ vault operator generate-root
   Root generation operation nonce: f67f4da3-4ae4-68fb-4716-91da6b609c3e
   Unseal Key (will be hidden): ...
   

   If there is a tty, Vault will prompt for the key and automatically complete the nonce value. If there is no tty, or if the value is piped from stdin, the user must specify the nonce value from the -init operation.

   $ echo $UNSEAL_KEY | vault operator generate-root -nonce=f67f4da3... -
   

4. When the quorum of unseal keys are supplied, the final user will also get the encoded root token.

   $ vault operator generate-root
   Root generation operation nonce: f67f4da3-4ae4-68fb-4716-91da6b609c3e
   Unseal Key (will be hidden):
   
   Nonce         f67f4da3-4ae4-68fb-4716-91da6b609c3e
   Started       true
   Progress      5/5
   Complete      true
   Root Token    IxJpyqxn3YafOGhqhvP6cQ==
   

5. Decode the encoded token using the OTP:

   $ vault operator generate-root \
       -decode=IxJpyqxn3YafOGhqhvP6cQ== \
       -otp=mOXx7iVimjE6LXQ2Zna6NA==
   
   24bde68f-3df3-e137-cf4d-014fe9ebc43f
   

Using PGP

1. Initialize a root token generation, providing the path to a GPG public key or keybase username of a user to encrypted the resulting token.

   $ vault operator generate-root -init -pgp-key=keybase:sethvargo
   Nonce              e24dec5e-f1ea-2dfe-ecce-604022006976
   Started            true
   Progress           0/5
   Complete           false
   PGP Fingerprint    e2f8e2974623ba2a0e933a59c921994f9c27e0ff
   

   The nonce value should be distributed to all unseal key holders.

2. Each unseal key holder providers their unseal key:

   $ vault operator generate-root
   Root generation operation nonce: e24dec5e-f1ea-2dfe-ecce-604022006976
   Unseal Key (will be hidden): ...
   

   If there is a tty, Vault will prompt for the key and automatically complete the nonce value. If there is no tty, or if the value is piped from stdin, the user must specify the nonce value from the -init operation.

   $ echo $UNSEAL_KEY | vault operator generate-root -nonce=f67f4da3... -
   

3. When the quorum of unseal keys are supplied, the final user will also get the encoded root token.

   $ vault operator generate-root
   Root generation operation nonce: e24dec5e-f1ea-2dfe-ecce-604022006976
   Unseal Key (will be hidden):
   
   Nonce              e24dec5e-f1ea-2dfe-ecce-604022006976
   Started            true
   Progress           1/1
   Complete           true
   PGP Fingerprint    e2f8e2974623ba2a0e933a59c921994f9c27e0ff
   Root Token         wcFMA0RVkFtoqzRlARAAI3Ux8kdSpfgXdF9mg...
   

4. Decrypt the encrypted token using associated private key:

   $ echo "wcFMA0RVkFtoqzRlARAAI3Ux8kdSpfgXdF9mg..." | base64 --decode | gpg --decrypt
   
   d0f71e9b-ebff-6d8a-50ae-b8859f2e5671
   

   or via keybase:

   $ echo "wcFMA0RVkFtoqzRlARAAI3Ux8kdSpfgXdF9mg..." | base64 --decode | keybase pgp decrypt
   
   d0f71e9b-ebff-6d8a-50ae-b8859f2e5671