»External Vault Requirements for Terraform Enterprise

Terraform Enterprise automatically creates an internally-managed Vault server that stores its data in the PostgreSQL Database. We strongly recommend that organizations use this internally-managed Vault server. However, some organizations have specific requirements around data encryption and auditing. Those organizations can configure Terraform Enterprise to use an external Vault server rather than the internally-managed Vault server.

We only recommend using external Vault when you have experience managing Vault in production. This approach requires that you assume full responsibility for the Vault server, including sealing, unsealing, replication, etc.

»External Vault Configuration

Run the following commands to configure your external Vault server for use with Terraform Enterprise.

1. Enable the AppRole Auth Method.

   vault auth enable approle
   

   vault auth enable approle
   

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2. Enable the Transit Secrets Engine.

   vault secrets enable transit
   

   vault secrets enable transit
   

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3. Create the tfe-policy.hcl file with the following content:

   # To renew leases.
   path "sys/leases/renew" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "sys/renew" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # To renew tokens.
   path "auth/token/renew" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "auth/token/renew-self" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # To perform a login.
   path "auth/approle/login" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # To upsert transit keys used for key generation.
   path "transit/keys/atlas_*" {
    capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/keys/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   
   # Encryption and decryption of data.
   path "transit/encrypt/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/decrypt/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/encrypt/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/decrypt/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # For performing key derivation.
   path "transit/datakey/plaintext/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # For backup/restore operations.
   path "transit/keys/atlas_*/config" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/backup/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }
   path "transit/restore/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/keys/archivist_*/config" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/backup/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }
   path "transit/restore/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   
   # For health checks to read the mount table.
   path "sys/mounts" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }
   

   # To renew leases.
   path "sys/leases/renew" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "sys/renew" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # To renew tokens.
   path "auth/token/renew" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "auth/token/renew-self" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # To perform a login.
   path "auth/approle/login" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # To upsert transit keys used for key generation.
   path "transit/keys/atlas_*" {
    capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/keys/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   
   # Encryption and decryption of data.
   path "transit/encrypt/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/decrypt/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/encrypt/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/decrypt/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # For performing key derivation.
   path "transit/datakey/plaintext/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["create", "update"]
   }
   
   # For backup/restore operations.
   path "transit/keys/atlas_*/config" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/backup/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }
   path "transit/restore/atlas_*" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/keys/archivist_*/config" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   path "transit/backup/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }
   path "transit/restore/archivist_*" {
     capabilities = ["read", "create", "update"]
   }
   
   # For health checks to read the mount table.
   path "sys/mounts" {
     capabilities = ["read"]
   }
   

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4. Create the tfe policy using the tfe-policy.hcl policy content.

   vault policy write tfe tfe-policy.hcl
   

   vault policy write tfe tfe-policy.hcl
   

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5. Create an AppRole with a periodic token using the tfe policy.

   vault write auth/approle/role/tfe policies="tfe" token_period=24h
   

   vault write auth/approle/role/tfe policies="tfe" token_period=24h
   

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6. Fetch the RoleID of the AppRole. This maps back to the extern_vault_role_id Terraform Enterprise configuration setting.

   vault read auth/approle/role/tfe/role-id
   

   vault read auth/approle/role/tfe/role-id
   

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7. Fetch the SecretID of the AppRole. This maps back to the extern_vault_secret_id Terraform Enterprise configuration setting.

   vault write -f auth/approle/role/tfe/secret-id
   

   vault write -f auth/approle/role/tfe/secret-id
   

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