69da5bc021
According to the documentation the App-ID backend is deprecated in favor of the AppRole backend since Vault 0.6.1.
100 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "docs"
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page_title: "Authentication"
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sidebar_current: "docs-concepts-auth"
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description: |-
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Before performing any operation with Vault, the connecting client must be authenticated.
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---
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# Authentication
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Before performing any operation with Vault, the connecting client must be
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_authenticated_. Authentication is the process of verifying a person or
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machine is who they say they are and assigning an identity to them. This
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identity is then used when making requests with Vault.
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Authentication in Vault is pluggable via authentication backends. This
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allows you to authenticate with Vault using a method that works best for your
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organization. For example, you can authenticate using GitHub, certs, etc.
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## Authentication Backends
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There are many authentication backends available for Vault. They
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are enabled using `vault auth-enable`. After they're enabled, you can
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learn more about them using `vault path-help auth/<name>`. For example,
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if you enable GitHub, you can use `vault path-help auth/github` to learn more
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about how to configure it and login.
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Multiple authentication backends can be enabled, but only one is required
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to gain authentication. It is not currently possible to force a user through
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multiple authentication backends to gain access.
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This allows you to enable human-friendly as well as machine-friendly
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backends at the same time. For example, for humans you might use the
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"github" auth backend, and for machines you might use the "approle" backend.
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## Tokens
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There is an [entire page dedicated to tokens](/docs/concepts/tokens.html),
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but it is important to understand that authentication works by verifying
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your identity and then generating a token to associate with that identity.
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For example, even though you may authenticate using something like GitHub,
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Vault generates a unique access token for you to use for future requests.
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The CLI automatically attaches this token to requests, but if you're using
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the API you'll have to do this manually.
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This token given for authentication with any backend can also be used
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with the full set of token commands, such as creating new sub-tokens,
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revoking tokens, and renewing tokens. This is all covered on the
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[token concepts page](/docs/concepts/tokens.html).
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## Authenticating
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#### Via the CLI
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To authenticate with the CLI, `vault auth` is used. This supports many
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of the built-in authentication methods. For example, with GitHub:
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```
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$ vault auth -method=github token=<token>
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...
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```
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After authenticating, you will be logged in. The CLI command will also
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output your raw token. This token is used for revocation and renewal.
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As the user logging in, the primary use case of the token is renewal,
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covered below in the "Auth Leases" section.
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To determine what variables are needed for an authentication method,
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supply the `-method` flag without any additional arguments and help
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will be shown.
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If you're using a method that isn't supported via the CLI, then the API
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must be used.
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#### Via the API
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API authentication is generally used for machine authentication. Each
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auth backend implements its own login endpoint. Use the `vault path-help`
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mechanism to find the proper endpoint.
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For example, the GitHub login endpoint is located at `auth/github/login`.
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And to determine the arguments needed, `vault path-help auth/github/login` can
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be used.
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## Auth Leases
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Just like secrets, identities have
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[leases](/docs/concepts/lease.html) associated with them. This means that
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you must reauthenticate after the given lease period to continue accessing
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Vault.
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To set the lease associated with an identity, reference the help for
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the specific authentication backend in use. It is specific to each backend
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how leasing is implemented.
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And just like secrets, identities can be renewed without having to
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completely reauthenticate. Just use `vault token-renew <token>` with the
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leased token associated with your identity to renew it.
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