Ansible Role: Hashicorp Vault Server Installation and Configuration

This role install and configure Hashicorp Vautl in a linux server.

Requirements

None

Role Variables

Available variables are listed below along with default values (see defaults\main.yaml)

Vault server installation details

Vault UNIX user/group

vault_group: vault
vault_user: vault

Vault package and version to be installed

vault_version: 1.12.2

Vault installation Paths

vault_bin_path: /usr/local/bin
vault_config_path: /etc/vault
vault_tls_path: /etc/vault/tls
vault_plugin_path: /usr/local/lib/vault/plugins
vault_data_path: /var/lib/vault
vault_log_path: /var/log/vault

Vault TLS configuration
```
vault_enable_tls: false
vault_key: ""
vault_cert: ""
custom_ca: false
vault_ca: ""
# vault service dns
vault_dns: ""
```
To enable configuration of TLS set vault_enable_tls to true and provide the private key and public certificate as content loaded into vault_key and vault_cert variables.

if custom CA has been used to sign the TLS certificates, custom_ca need to be set to true, and CA certificate need to be loaded int vault-ca variable.

Set vault_dns to FQDN of vault service used to issue the Certificate.

They can be loaded from files using an ansible task like:
```
- name: Load tls key and cert from files
set_fact:
  vault_key: "{{ lookup('file','certificates/{{ inventory_hostname }}_private.key') }}"
  vault_cert: "{{ lookup('file','certificates/{{ inventory_hostname }}_public.crt') }}"
  vault_ca: "{{ lookup('file','certificates/ca.crt') }}"
```
Vault inititialize
```
vault_init: false
vault_key_shares: 1
vault_key_threshold: 1
vault_keys_output: "{{ vault_config_path }}/unseal.json"
```
To automatically initialize vault, set vault_init to true, and provide vault_key_shares and vault_key_thershold variables to specify the number of unseal keys to be generated.

Initialization will generate json file, vault_keys_output, containing keys and root token
Vault unseal and unseal service
```
vault_unseal: false
vault_unseal_service: false
```
To automatically unseal vault, set vault_unseal to true. The unsealing process will use keys from vault_keys_output file

Systemd service can be created to automatically unseal vault whenever vault service is started or restarted. To enable it, set vault_unseal_service to true. Oneshot vault-unseal. This service also uses vault_keys_output file.
KV secrets engine

KV version 2 secret engine can be automatically enabled providing the following variables
```
vault_kv_secrets:
  path: secret
```
KV version 2 will be anabled at path secret

Policies

ACL policies can be automatically configured, providing a name and the hcl content.

policies:
  - name: write
    hcl: |
      path "secret/*" {
        capabilities = [ "create", "read", "update", "delete", "list", "patch" ]
      }
  - name: read
    hcl: |
      path "secret/*" {
        capabilities = [ "read" ]
      }

Dependencies

None

Example Playbook

The following playbook install and configure vault, enabling TLS and generating custom CA signed SSL certificates. It initializes and unseals Vault. It also enable KV version 2 at secret path and create a couple of polocies (read and write)

---
- name: Install and configure Vault Server
  hosts: vault-server
  become: true
  gather_facts: true
  vars:
    server_hostname: vault.ricsanfre.com
    ssl_key_size: 4096
    key_type: RSA
    country_name: ES
    email_address: admin@ricsanfre.com
    organization_name: Ricsanfre
    ansible_user: root

  pre_tasks:
    - name: Generate custom CA
      include_tasks: tasks/generate_custom_ca.yml
      args:
        apply:
          delegate_to: localhost
          become: false
    - name: Generate customCA-signed SSL certificates for minio
      include_tasks: tasks/generate_ca_signed_cert.yml
      args:
        apply:
          delegate_to: localhost
          become: false

    - name: Load tls key and cert
      set_fact:
        vault_key: "{{ lookup('file', 'certificates/' + server_hostname + '.key') }}"
        vault_cert: "{{ lookup('file', 'certificates/' + server_hostname + '.pem') }}"
        vault_ca: "{{ lookup('file', 'certificates/CA.pem') }}"

  roles:
    - role: ricsanfre.vault
      vault_enable_tls: true
      custom_ca: true
      vault_init: true
      vault_unseal: true
      vault_unseal_service: true
      tls_skip_verify: true
      display_init_response: true
      # Configure KV
      vault_kv_secrets:
        path: secret

      # Policies
      policies:
        - name: write
          hcl: |
            path "secret/*" {
              capabilities = [ "create", "read", "update", "delete", "list", "patch" ]
            }
        - name: read
          hcl: |
            path "secret/*" {
              capabilities = [ "read" ]
            }

pre-tasks section include tasks to generate a custom CA, and vault's private key and certificate and load them into vault_key, vault_cert and vault-ca variables.

Where generate_custom_ca.yml contain the tasks for generating a custom CA:

---
- name: Create CA key
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: certificates/CA.key
    size: "{{ ssl_key_size | int }}"
    mode: 0644
  register: ca_key

- name: create the CA CSR
  openssl_csr:
    privatekey_path: certificates/CA.key
    common_name: Ricsanfre CA
    use_common_name_for_san: false  # since we do not specify SANs, don't use CN as a SAN
    basic_constraints:
      - 'CA:TRUE'
    basic_constraints_critical: true
    key_usage:
      - keyCertSign
    key_usage_critical: true
    path: certificates/CA.csr
  register: ca_csr

- name: sign the CA CSR
  openssl_certificate:
    path: certificates/CA.pem
    csr_path: certificates/CA.csr
    privatekey_path: certificates/CA.key
    provider: selfsigned
  register: ca_crt

And generate_ca_signed_certificate.yml contain the tasks for generating Vault's key and certifica signed by custom CA:

---
- name: Create private key
  openssl_privatekey:
    path: "certificates/{{ server_hostname }}.key"
    size: "{{ ssl_key_size | int }}"
    type: "{{ key_type }}"
    mode: 0644

- name: Create CSR
  openssl_csr:
    path: "certificates/{{ server_hostname }}.csr"
    privatekey_path: "certificates/{{ server_hostname }}.key"
    country_name: "{{ country_name }}"
    organization_name: "{{ organization_name }}"
    email_address: "{{ email_address }}"
    common_name: "{{ server_hostname }}"
    subject_alt_name: "DNS:{{ server_hostname }},IP:{{ ansible_default_ipv4.address }},IP:127.0.0.1"

- name: CA signed CSR
  openssl_certificate:
    csr_path: "certificates/{{ server_hostname }}.csr"
    path: "certificates/{{ server_hostname }}.pem"
    provider: ownca
    ownca_path: certificates/CA.pem
    ownca_privatekey_path: certificates/CA.key

License

MIT

Author Information

Created by Ricardo Sanchez (ricsanfre)