open-vault/website/content/docs/secrets/databases/index.mdx

---
layout: docs
page_title: Database - Secrets Engines
description: |-
  The database secrets engine generates database credentials dynamically based
  on configured roles. It works with a number of different databases through a
  plugin interface. There are a number of built-in database types and an exposed
  framework for running custom database types for extendability.
---

# Databases

The database secrets engine generates database credentials dynamically based on
configured roles. It works with a number of different databases through a plugin
interface. There are a number of built-in database types, and an exposed framework
for running custom database types for extendability. This means that services
that need to access a database no longer need to hardcode credentials: they can
request them from Vault, and use Vault's leasing mechanism to more easily roll
keys. These are referred to as "dynamic roles" or "dynamic secrets".

Since every service is accessing the database with unique credentials, it makes
auditing much easier when questionable data access is discovered. You can track
it down to the specific instance of a service based on the SQL username.

Vault makes use of its own internal revocation system to ensure that users
become invalid within a reasonable time of the lease expiring.

### Static Roles

The database secrets engine supports the concept of "static roles", which are
a 1-to-1 mapping of Vault Roles to usernames in a database. The current password
for the database user is stored and automatically rotated by Vault on a
configurable period of time. This is in contrast to dynamic secrets, where a
unique username and password pair are generated with each credential request.
When credentials are requested for the Role, Vault returns the current
password for the configured database user, allowing anyone with the proper
Vault policies to have access to the user account in the database.

~> Not all database types support static roles at this time. Please consult the
specific database documentation on the left navigation or the table below under
[Database Capabilities](#database-capabilities) to see if a given database
backend supports static roles.

## Setup

Most secrets engines must be configured in advance before they can perform their
functions. These steps are usually completed by an operator or configuration
management tool.

1. Enable the database secrets engine:

   ```shell
   $ vault secrets enable database
   Success! Enabled the database secrets engine at: database/
   ```

   By default, the secrets engine will enable at the name of the engine. To
   enable the secrets engine at a different path, use the `-path` argument.

1. Configure Vault with the proper plugin and connection information:

   ```shell
   $ vault write database/config/my-database \
       plugin_name="..." \
       connection_url="..." \
       allowed_roles="..." \
       username="..." \
       password="..."
   ```

   ~> It is highly recommended a user within the database is created
   specifically for Vault to use. This user will be used to manipulate
   dynamic and static users within the database. This user is called the
   "root" user within the documentation.

   Vault will use the user specified here to create/update/revoke database
   credentials. That user must have the appropriate permissions to perform
   actions upon other database users (create, update credentials, delete, etc.).

   This secrets engine can configure multiple database connections. For details
   on the specific configuration options, please see the database-specific
   documentation.

1. After configuring the root user, it is highly recommended you rotate that user's
   password such that the vault user is not accessible by any users other than
   Vault itself:

   ```shell
   $ vault write -force database/rotate-root/my-database
   ```

   !> When this is done, the password for the user specified in the previous step
   is no longer accessible. Because of this, it is highly recommended that a
   user is created specifically for Vault to use to manage database
   users.

1. Configure a role that maps a name in Vault to a set of creation statements to
   create the database credential:

   ```shell
   $ vault write database/roles/my-role \
       db_name=my-database \
       creation_statements="..." \
       default_ttl="1h" \
       max_ttl="24h"
   Success! Data written to: database/roles/my-role
   ```

   The `{{username}}` and `{{password}}` fields will be populated by the plugin
   with dynamically generated values. In some plugins the `{{expiration}}`
   field is also be supported.

## Usage

After the secrets engine is configured and a user/machine has a Vault token with
the proper permission, it can generate credentials.

1.  Generate a new credential by reading from the `/creds` endpoint with the name
    of the role:

    ```shell
    $ vault read database/creds/my-role
    Key                Value
    ---                -----
    lease_id           database/creds/my-role/2f6a614c-4aa2-7b19-24b9-ad944a8d4de6
    lease_duration     1h
    lease_renewable    true
    password           FSREZ1S0kFsZtLat-y94
    username           v-vaultuser-e2978cd0-ugp7iqI2hdlff5hfjylJ-1602537260
    ```

## Database Capabilities

As of Vault 1.6, all databases support dynamic roles and static roles. All plugins except MongoDB Atlas support rotating
the root user's credentials. MongoDB Atlas cannot support rotating the root user's credentials because it uses a public
and private key pair to authenticate.

| Database                                              | Root Credential Rotation | Dynamic Roles | Static Roles |
| ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------- | ------------ |
| [Cassandra](/docs/secrets/databases/cassandra)        | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes (1.6+)   |
| [Couchbase](/docs/secrets/databases/couchbase)        | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [Elasticsearch](/docs/secrets/databases/elasticdb)    | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes (1.6+)   |
| [HanaDB](/docs/secrets/databases/hanadb)              | Yes (1.6+)               | Yes           | Yes (1.6+)   |
| [InfluxDB](/docs/secrets/databases/influxdb)          | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes (1.6+)   |
| [MongoDB](/docs/secrets/databases/mongodb)            | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [MongoDB Atlas](/docs/secrets/databases/mongodbatlas) | No                       | Yes           | Yes          |
| [MSSQL](/docs/secrets/databases/mssql)                | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [MySQL/MariaDB](/docs/secrets/databases/mysql-maria)  | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [Oracle](/docs/secrets/databases/oracle)              | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [PostgreSQL](/docs/secrets/databases/postgresql)      | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [Redshift](/docs/secrets/databases/redshift)          | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |
| [Snowflake](/docs/secrets/databases/snowflake)        | Yes                      | Yes           | Yes          |

## Custom Plugins

This secrets engine allows custom database types to be run through the exposed
plugin interface. Please see the [custom database plugin](/docs/secrets/databases/custom)
for more information.

## Password Generation

Passwords are generated via [Password Policies](/docs/concepts/password-policies).
Databases can optionally set a password policy for use across all roles for that database.
In other words, each time you call `vault write database/config/my-database` you can specify
a password policy for all roles using `my-database`. Each database has a default password
policy defined as: 20 characters with at least 1 uppercase character, at least 1 lowercase
character, at least 1 number, and at least 1 dash character.

You cannot specify a password policy on a specific role as the purpose of password policies is
to adhere to password requirements of systems (such as a database), not making passwords
for specific users.

The default password generation can be represented as the following password policy:

```hcl
length = 20

rule "charset" {
	charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
	min-chars = 1
}
rule "charset" {
	charset = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
	min-chars = 1
}
rule "charset" {
	charset = "0123456789"
	min-chars = 1
}
rule "charset" {
	charset = "-"
	min-chars = 1
}
```

## Learn

Refer to the following step-by-step tutorials for more information:

- [Secrets as a Service: Dynamic Secrets](https://learn.hashicorp.com/vault/secrets-management/sm-dynamic-secrets)
- [Database Root Credential Rotation](https://learn.hashicorp.com/vault/secrets-management/db-root-rotation)
- [Database Static Roles and Credential Rotation](https://learn.hashicorp.com/vault/secrets-management/db-creds-rotation)

## API

The database secrets engine has a full HTTP API. Please see the [Database secret
secrets engine API](/api/secret/databases) for more details.