mirror of https://github.com/status-im/consul.git
205 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
205 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
---
|
||
layout: docs
|
||
page_title: Configuring a Connect CA Provider
|
||
description: Configuring a Connect CA Provider
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Configuring a Connect CA Provider
|
||
|
||
~> **NOTE:** The instructions below should only be used for initially bootstrapping a cluster with **Consul K8s 0.38.0+.**
|
||
To update the Connect CA provider on an existing cluster or to update any properties, such as tokens, of the CA provider,
|
||
please use the [Update CA Configuration Endpoint](/api-docs/connect/ca#update-ca-configuration).
|
||
|
||
Consul has support for different certificate authority (CA) providers to be used with the Consul Service Mesh.
|
||
Please see [Connect Certificate Management](/docs/connect/ca) for the information on the providers
|
||
we currently support.
|
||
|
||
If Connect is enabled, the built-in Consul CA is automatically enabled for the Connect CA.
|
||
To configure an external CA provider via the Consul Helm chart, you need to follow three steps:
|
||
|
||
1. Create a configuration file containing your provider information.
|
||
1. Create a Kubernetes secret containing the configuration file.
|
||
1. Reference the Kubernetes secret in the [`server.extraVolumes`](/docs/k8s/helm#v-server-extravolumes) value in the Helm chart.
|
||
|
||
To configure the Vault Connect Provider please see [Vault as the Service Mesh Certificate Provider on Kubernetes](/docs/k8s/installation/vault/data-integration/connect-ca).
|
||
|
||
|
||
~> **NOTE:** The following instructions are only valid for Consul-k8s 0.37.0 and prior.
|
||
|
||
Below we will go over the process for configuring Vault as the Connect CA.
|
||
However, other providers can similarly be configured during initial bootstrap of the cluster
|
||
by providing the appropriate [`ca_config`] and [`ca_provider`] values for the provider you're using.
|
||
|
||
## Configuring Vault as a Connect CA (Consul K8s 0.37.0 and earlier)
|
||
|
||
-> **NOTE:** If using Vault as your Connect CA, it's highly recommended to run a Consul version >= 1.8.5 that supports
|
||
token auto-renewal. With this feature, if the Vault token is [renewable](https://www.vaultproject.io/api-docs/auth/token#renewable)
|
||
then Consul will automatically renew the token periodically. Without this feature, you
|
||
will need to [manually rotate](#manually-rotating-vault-tokens) the Vault
|
||
token before it expires.
|
||
|
||
### Primary Datacenter
|
||
|
||
To configure Vault as a CA provider for Consul Connect,
|
||
first, create a provider configuration JSON file.
|
||
Please refer to [Vault as a Connect CA](/docs/connect/ca/vault) for the configuration options.
|
||
You will need to provide a Vault token to the `token` property.
|
||
Please refer to [these docs](/docs/connect/ca/vault#token) for the permissions that the token needs to have.
|
||
This token should be [renewable](https://www.vaultproject.io/api-docs/auth/token#renewable).
|
||
|
||
To provide a CA, you first need to create a Kubernetes secret containing the CA.
|
||
For example, you may create a secret with the Vault CA like so:
|
||
|
||
```shell-session
|
||
kubectl create secret generic vault-ca --from-file vault.ca=/path/to/your/vault/ca
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
And then reference it like this in the provider configuration:
|
||
|
||
<CodeBlockConfig filename="vault-config.json" highlight="10">
|
||
|
||
```json
|
||
{
|
||
"connect": [
|
||
{
|
||
"ca_config": [
|
||
{
|
||
"address": "https://vault:8200",
|
||
"intermediate_pki_path": "dc1/connect-intermediate",
|
||
"root_pki_path": "connect-root",
|
||
"token": "s.VgQvaXl8xGFO1RUxAPbPbsfN",
|
||
"ca_file": "/consul/userconfig/vault-ca/vault.ca"
|
||
}
|
||
],
|
||
"ca_provider": "vault"
|
||
}
|
||
]
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
</CodeBlockConfig>
|
||
|
||
This example configuration file is pointing to a Vault instance running in the same Kubernetes cluster,
|
||
which has been deployed with TLS enabled. Note that the `ca_file` is pointing to the file location
|
||
based on the Kubernetes secret for the Vault CA that we have created before.
|
||
We will provide that secret later in the Helm values for our Consul cluster.
|
||
|
||
~> NOTE: If you have used Kubernetes CA to sign Vault's certificate,
|
||
such as shown in [Standalone Server with TLS](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/platform/k8s/helm/examples/standalone-tls),
|
||
you don't need to create a Kubernetes secret with Vault's CA and can reference the CA directly
|
||
by setting `ca_file` to `/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt`.
|
||
|
||
Next, create a Kubernetes secret with this configuration file.
|
||
|
||
```shell-session
|
||
$ kubectl create secret generic vault-config --from-file=config=vault-config.json
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
We will provide this secret and the Vault CA secret, to the Consul server via the
|
||
`server.extraVolumes` Helm value.
|
||
|
||
<CodeBlockConfig filename="config.yaml" highlight="4-13">
|
||
|
||
```yaml
|
||
global:
|
||
name: consul
|
||
server:
|
||
extraVolumes:
|
||
- type: secret
|
||
name: vault-config
|
||
load: true
|
||
items:
|
||
- key: config
|
||
path: vault-config.json
|
||
- type: secret
|
||
name: vault-ca
|
||
load: false
|
||
connectInject:
|
||
enabled: true
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
</CodeBlockConfig>
|
||
|
||
Finally, [install](/docs/k8s/installation/install#installing-consul) the Helm chart using the above config file:
|
||
|
||
```shell-session
|
||
$ helm install consul --values config.yaml hashicorp/consul
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
Verify that the CA provider is set correctly:
|
||
|
||
```shell-session
|
||
$ kubectl exec consul-server-0 -- curl --silent http://localhost:8500/v1/connect/ca/configuration\?pretty
|
||
{
|
||
"Provider": "vault",
|
||
"Config": {
|
||
"Address": "https://vault:8200",
|
||
"CAFile": "/consul/userconfig/vault-server-tls/vault.ca",
|
||
"IntermediateCertTTL": "8760h",
|
||
"IntermediatePKIPath": "connect-intermediate",
|
||
"LeafCertTTL": "72h",
|
||
"RootPKIPath": "connect-root",
|
||
"Token": "s.VgQvaXl8xGFO1RUxAPbPbsfN"
|
||
},
|
||
"State": null,
|
||
"ForceWithoutCrossSigning": false,
|
||
"CreateIndex": 5,
|
||
"ModifyIndex": 5
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
### Secondary Datacenters
|
||
|
||
To configure Vault as the Connect CA in secondary datacenters, you need to make sure that the Root CA is the same,
|
||
but the intermediate is different for each datacenter. In the `connect` configuration for a secondary datacenter,
|
||
you can specify a `intermediate_pki_path` that is, for example, prefixed with the datacenter
|
||
for which this configuration is intended.
|
||
You will similarly need to create a Vault token and a Kubernetes secret with
|
||
Vault's CA in each secondary Kubernetes cluster.
|
||
|
||
<CodeBlockConfig highlight="7">
|
||
|
||
```json
|
||
{
|
||
"connect": [
|
||
{
|
||
"ca_config": [
|
||
{
|
||
"address": "https://vault:8200",
|
||
"intermediate_pki_path": "dc2/connect-intermediate",
|
||
"root_pki_path": "connect-root",
|
||
"token": "s.VgQvaXl8xGFO1RUxAPbPbsfN",
|
||
"ca_file": "/consul/userconfig/vault-ca/vault.ca"
|
||
}
|
||
],
|
||
"ca_provider": "vault"
|
||
}
|
||
]
|
||
}
|
||
```
|
||
|
||
</CodeBlockConfig>
|
||
|
||
Note that all secondary datacenters need to have access to the same Vault instance as the primary.
|
||
|
||
### Manually Rotating Vault Tokens
|
||
|
||
If running Consul < 1.8.5 or using a Vault token that is not [renewable](https://www.vaultproject.io/api-docs/auth/token#renewable)
|
||
then you will need to manually renew or rotate the Vault token before it expires.
|
||
|
||
#### Rotating Vault Token
|
||
|
||
The [`ca_config`] and [`ca_provider`] options defined in the Consul agent
|
||
configuration are only used when initially bootstrapping the cluster. Once the
|
||
cluster is running, subsequent changes to the [`ca_provider`] config are **ignored**–even if `consul reload` is run or the servers are restarted.
|
||
|
||
To update any settings under these keys, you must use Consul's [Update CA Configuration](/api-docs/connect/ca#update-ca-configuration) API or the [`consul connect ca set-config`](/commands/connect/ca#set-config) command.
|
||
|
||
#### Renewing Vault Token
|
||
|
||
To renew the Vault token, use the [`vault token renew`](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/commands/token/renew) CLI command
|
||
or API.
|
||
|
||
[`ca_config`]: /docs/agent/config/config-files#connect_ca_config
|
||
[`ca_provider`]: /docs/agent/config/config-files#connect_ca_provider
|