8eed94b072
* website maintenance round * improve docs, revert bug workaround as it was fixed * boost memory * remove unnecessary code
119 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
119 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
---
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layout: intro
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page_title: Built-in Help - Getting Started
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sidebar_title: Built-in Help
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description: >-
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Vault has a built-in help system to learn about the available paths in Vault
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and how to use them.
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---
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# Built-in Help
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You've now worked with `vault write` and `vault read` for multiple paths: the
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`kv` secrets engine with `kv/` and dynamic AWS credentials with the AWS secrets
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engine provider at `aws/`. In both cases, the structure and usage of each
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secrets engines differed, for example the AWS backend has special paths like
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`aws/config`.
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Instead of having to memorize or reference documentation constantly to determine
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what paths to use, Vault has a built-in help system. This help system can be
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accessed via the API or the command-line and generates human-readable help for
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any path.
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## Secrets Engines Overview
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This section assumes you have the AWS secrets engine enabled at `aws/`. If you
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do not, enable it before continuing:
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```shell-session
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$ vault secrets enable -path=aws aws
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```
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With the secrets engine enabled, learn about it with the `vault path-help`
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command:
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```shell-session
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$ vault path-help aws
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## DESCRIPTION
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The AWS backend dynamically generates AWS access keys for a set of
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IAM policies. The AWS access keys have a configurable lease set and
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are automatically revoked at the end of the lease.
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After mounting this backend, credentials to generate IAM keys must
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be configured with the "root" path and policies must be written using
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the "roles/" endpoints before any access keys can be generated.
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## PATHS
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The following paths are supported by this backend. To view help for
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any of the paths below, use the help command with any route matching
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the path pattern. Note that depending on the policy of your auth token,
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you may or may not be able to access certain paths.
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^config/lease$
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Configure the default lease information for generated credentials.
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^config/root$
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Configure the root credentials that are used to manage IAM.
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^creds/(?P<name>\w+)$
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Generate an access key pair for a specific role.
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^roles/(?P<name>\w+)$
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Read and write IAM policies that access keys can be made for.
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```
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The `vault path-help` command takes a path. By specifying a root path, it will
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give us the overview of that secrets engine. Notice how the help not only
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contains a description, but also the exact regular expressions used to match
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routes for this backend along with a brief description of what the route is for.
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## Path Help
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After seeing the overview, we can continue to dive deeper by getting help for an
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individual path. For this, just use `vault path-help` with a path that would
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match the regular expression for that path. Note that the path doesn't need to
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actually _work_. For example, we'll get the help below for accessing
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`aws/creds/my-non-existent-role`, even though we never created the role:
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```shell-session
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$ vault path-help aws/creds/my-non-existent-role
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Request: creds/my-non-existent-role
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Matching Route: ^creds/(?P<name>\w(([\w-.]+)?\w)?)$
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Generate an access key pair for a specific role.
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## PARAMETERS
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name (string)
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Name of the role
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## DESCRIPTION
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This path will generate a new, never before used key pair for
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accessing AWS. The IAM policy used to back this key pair will be
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the "name" parameter. For example, if this backend is mounted at "aws",
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then "aws/creds/deploy" would generate access keys for the "deploy" role.
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The access keys will have a lease associated with them. The access keys
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can be revoked by using the lease ID.
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```
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Within a path, we are given the parameters that this path requires. Some
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parameters come from the route itself. In this case, the `name` parameter is a
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named capture from the route regular expression. There is also a description of
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what that path does.
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Go ahead and explore more paths! Enable other secrets engines, traverse their
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help systems, and learn about what they do.
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## Next
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The help system may not be the most exciting feature of Vault, but it is
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indispensable in day-to-day usage. The help system lets you learn about how to
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use any backend within Vault without leaving the command line.
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Next, we will learn about
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[authentication](/intro/getting-started/authentication).
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