Unleashing Terraform for Kubernetes secret management with IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and Secrets Manager

On this weblog publish, we discover the sensible implementation of using Terraform on IBM Cloud to create and handle secrets and techniques by seamlessly integrating your IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service with IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor.

Beforehand, this performance to handle TLS and non-TLS certificates and secrets and techniques was primarily accessed via the CLI utilizing the namespace ibmcloud ks ingress secret. This API allows customers to create an “Ingress secret” useful resource by passing Secrets and techniques Supervisor secret CRNs to the API to ascertain a managed corresponding secret of their Kubernetes cluster. Notably, any updates made to the secrets and techniques inside the Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion are mechanically mirrored inside the related Kubernetes cluster, guaranteeing synchronization between the 2 environments.

Structure and habits

The IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service reconciles the created Ingress secrets and techniques within the following means:

The consumer has an current IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion and IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service occasion.

The consumer registers the Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion to make sure its secret CRNs will likely be synchronized between the Secrets and techniques Supervisor secret and corresponding Ingress secret(s).

The consumer then creates an IBM Cloud Kubernetes Ingress secret that may both be an Opaque or TLS secret with a Secrets and techniques Supervisor CRN (ID). This creates a backing useful resource within the cloud that correlates the key CRN to the ClusterID/SecretName/SecretNamespace.

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service fetches the Secrets and techniques Supervisor secret through the CRN.

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service creates a Kubernetes secret within the cluster with the values of the CRN(s).

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service ensures that the secrets and techniques values keep in sync with the corresponding Secrets and techniques Supervisor secret CRN.

Advantages

By using the mixing with IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor, you may leverage the next advantages:

Seamlessly create and handle Secrets and techniques Supervisor secrets and techniques with built-in autorotation for enhanced safety.

Effortlessly provision Kubernetes secrets and techniques utilizing the key CRN of any Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion you personal, guaranteeing constant and dependable secret administration.

Robotically synchronize and persist your secrets and techniques inside your Kubernetes cluster regularly, eliminating the necessity for handbook updates and lowering the chance of outdated secrets and techniques.

Simply observe and monitor the expiration dates of your secrets and techniques immediately from the IBM Cloud console, guaranteeing well timed rotation and stopping potential safety vulnerabilities.

Preserve management over entry to your secrets and techniques by creating secret teams, permitting you to grant permissions solely to authorised customers and enhancing the general safety of your functions.

Arms-on instance

The under instance exhibits an integration of IBM Cloud Kubernetes and IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor through a Terraform script. To observe alongside within the full pattern, go to this instance. You’ll provision an IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion, register it to an IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, and create managed IBM Cloud Kubernetes Ingress secrets and techniques backed by Secrets and techniques Supervisor secrets and techniques.

Stipulations

To observe this instance, you’ll require the next:

Strolling via the Terraform script

1. Create an IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion

Create an IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion and secret group to host your secrets and techniques. Study extra about Making a Secrets and techniques Supervisor service occasion:

useful resource “ibm_resource_instance”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”sm_instance” {
title = var.sm_instance_name
service = “secrets-manager”
plan = var.sm_instance_plan
location = var.sm_instance_region
timeouts {
create = “60m”
delete = “2h”
}

}

useful resource “ibm_sm_secret_group”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”sm_secret_group” {
instance_id = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.guid
area = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.location
title = var.sm_secret_group_name
description = var.sm_secret_group_description
}

2. Arrange service-to-service authorization via IAM

See extra about what configurations are wanted to allow service-to-service communication:

useful resource “ibm_iam_authorization_policy”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”sm_auth” {
source_service_name = “containers-kubernetes”
target_service_name = “secrets-manager”
roles = [“Manager”]
}

3. Register the Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion to the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service cluster

If you register a Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion to your cluster because the default, all new Ingress subdomain certificates are saved in that occasion:

useful resource “ibm_container_ingress_instance”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”occasion” {
cluster = var.cluster_name_or_id
secret_group_id = ibm_sm_secret_group.sm_secret_group.secret_group_id
instance_crn = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.id
is_default = true
}

4. Create secrets and techniques in Secrets and techniques Supervisor and allow computerized rotation

Create an arbitrary and username credential secret in Secrets and techniques Supervisor. Study extra about completely different secret varieties:

useful resource “ibm_sm_arbitrary_secret”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”sm_arbitrary_secret” {
instance_id = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.guid
area = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.location
endpoint_type = var.sm_endpoint_type
title = var.sm_arbitrary_secret_name
description = var.sm_arbitrary_secret_description
expiration_date = var.sm_arbitrary_secret_expiration_date
labels = var.sm_arbitrary_secret_labels
secret_group_id = ibm_sm_secret_group.sm_secret_group.secret_group_id
payload = var.sm_arbitrary_secret_payload
}

useful resource “ibm_sm_username_password_secret”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”sm_username_password_secret” {
instance_id = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.guid
area = ibm_resource_instance.sm_instance.location
endpoint_type = var.sm_endpoint_type
title = var.sm_username_password_secret_name
description = var.sm_username_password_secret_description
expiration_date = var.sm_username_password_secret_expiration_date
labels = var.sm_username_password_secret_labels
secret_group_id = ibm_sm_secret_group.sm_secret_group.secret_group_id
rotation {
auto_rotate = true
interval = 1
unit = “day”
}

username = var.sm_username_password_secret_username
password = var.sm_username_password_secret_password
}

5. Within the cluster, create a persistent Opaque secret that’s backed by the CRN of the secrets and techniques in Secrets and techniques Supervisor

Create an Ingress Opaque secret within the cluster. Now, anytime the secrets and techniques in Secrets and techniques Supervisor are up to date, the corresponding Kubernetes Opaque secret will likely be up to date as soon as a day. The persistence area ensures that if a consumer inadvertently deletes the key from the cluster, it is going to be recreated:

useful resource “ibm_container_ingress_secret_opaque”https://www.ibm.com/weblog/unleashing-terraform-for-kubernetes-secret-management-with-ibm-cloud-kubernetes-service-and-secrets-manager/”secret_opaque” {
cluster = var.cluster_name_or_id
secret_name = var.opaque_secret_name
secret_namespace = var.opaque_secret_namespace
persistence = true
fields {
crn = ibm_sm_arbitrary_secret.sm_arbitrary_secret.crn
}
fields {
crn = ibm_sm_username_password_secret.sm_username_password_secret.crn
}
}

Creating the infrastructure

Now that you just’ve gone via what every block of the Terraform script will likely be doing, let’s create the infrastructure.

Run terraform init in your listing.

Copy the primary.tf and output.tf recordsdata from the instance repo.

Create a .tfvars file and fill within the corresponding variables wanted. You possibly can be taught extra about what variables are wanted within the variables.tf file.

Run terraform plan -var-file=<file_name>.

Create the assets with terraform apply -var-file=<file_name>.

Verifying created assets

Now that these assets are created, go into the IBM Cloud Dashboard to view the created assets underneath Useful resource listing:

Navigate to the created IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor occasion and think about the created secrets and techniques:

Navigate to the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service, click on on Ingress, then choose the Secrets and techniques tab to view the Opaque secret:

Contact us

This pattern serves as a place to begin to showcase the advantages and performance of integrating Terraform with IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and IBM Cloud Secrets and techniques Supervisor. Be at liberty to develop and tailor this strategy to suit your use case.

When you have questions, have interaction our group through Slack by registering right here and be part of the dialogue within the #basic channel on our public IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service Slack.