What is the process of using HashiCorp Vault with Google Compute Engine in TypeScript

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Integrating HashiCorp Vault with Google Compute Engine (GCE) involves several steps. First, Vault needs to be set up and configured, and then you communicate with it from a GCE instance, likely using Vault's APIs to read secrets or other secure data.

Here are the steps you would generally follow:

1. Set up a Vault server: Deploy a HashiCorp Vault server, which is where your secrets will be stored and managed.

2. Configure Vault: Initialize Vault, unseal it, and set up the required secret backends (e.g., for generating dynamic GCP credentials or storing static secrets).

3. Set up a GCE instance: Create and configure a Google Compute Engine instance that will communicate with Vault.

4. Install Vault client on GCE: On the GCE instance, install the Vault client, which will interact with the Vault server to authenticate and read secrets.

5. Authenticate the GCE instance with Vault: The GCE instance needs to authenticate with Vault using an appropriate auth method (e.g., GCP IAM, tokens, etc.).

6. Access secrets: Upon successful authentication, the GCE instance utilizes Vault APIs to access and manage secrets as per your requirements.

Let's write a program in Pulumi with TypeScript to set up a GCE instance and integrate it with HashiCorp Vault.

Before you start, make sure you have the Pulumi CLI installed and authenticated with both Google Cloud and Vault's settings configured, including valid credentials.

First, let's define our GCE instance using Pulumi.

```typescript
import * as gcp from "@pulumi/gcp";
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import { google_native } from "@pulumi/pulumi/registry";

// Create a new GCE instance
const instance = new gcp.compute.Instance("vault-integration-instance", {
    // Choose the machine type (e.g., f1-micro)
    machineType: "f1-micro",

// Specify the zone where you want the instance
    zone: "us-central1-a",

// Configure the boot disk and the image to use
    bootDisk: {
        initializeParams: {
            image: "debian-cloud/debian-9",
        },
    },

// Specify the network and access config
    networkInterfaces: [{
        network: "default",
        accessConfigs: [{}], // This sets up an ephemeral IP
    }],

// Define metadata that the instance will use to access and authenticate with Vault
    metadata: {
        // Place the Vault server's address and other required information here
        "vault-addr": "https://vault.example.com",
        // You might need a Vault token or other credentials here, depending on your auth method
    },

// Set the service account to the Compute Engine default service account
    // This service account needs proper permissions if using GCP auth method for Vault
    serviceAccount: {
        email: "default",
        scopes: [
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
        ],
    },
});

// Output the public IP address of the GCE instance
export const instanceAddress = instance.networkInterfaces.apply(
    nis => nis[0].accessConfigs.apply(ac => ac[0].natIp)
);
```

In the program above, we define a new GCE instance in the default network with an ephemeral IP address. The instance uses Debian 9, and we set the Vault server's address in the metadata section. Depending on how you choose to authenticate with Vault, you may need additional details, like a Vault token placed in the instance's metadata or through another secure delivery mechanism.

Please note that storing sensitive information, such as Vault tokens, in metadata is not considered best practice due to potential security risks. For a production environment, it is recommended to use more secure methods such as Cloud KMS for handling secrets.

Now, let's consider setting up a Vault server and configuring it. I will not provide full Vault setup code here, as it depends heavily on your specific Vault configuration, secret backends, and auth methods in use, which can be quite complex and need careful security considerations.

Instead, I'll focus on providing guidance and resources. For setting up the Vault, you can follow HashiCorp's [Vault Getting Started guide](https://learn.hashicorp.com/vault/getting-started/install). Once Vault is installed and initialized, you can enable and configure the Google Cloud secrets backend following the steps outlined in the [Vault GCP Secrets Engine documentation](https://www.vaultproject.io/docs/secrets/gcp). Make sure to set up the appropriate IAM roles and service account in GCP to allow Vault to create and manage secrets.

In your GCE instance, you will then use the Vault client to authenticate using the chosen method and access the secrets required for your application. For a GCP instance, you might authenticate using the GCP auth method, which allows you to leverage IAM roles and service accounts for authentication, making automation smoother and more secure.

Once the basics are established, you will likely interact with Vault through its API or CLI within your application running on the GCE instance to fetch or manage secrets.

The given Pulumi program sets up the infrastructure; the actual integration with Vault, from within the instance, would typically be done in the instance's application code or startup scripts.