# Storing secrets in the vault Galaxy can be configured to store secrets in an external vault, which is useful for secure handling and centralization of secrets management. In particular, information fields in the "Manage information" section of the user profile, such as AWS credentials, can be configured to be stored in an encrypted vault instead of the database. Vault keys are generally stored as key-value pairs in a hierarchical fashion, for example: `/galaxy/user/2/preferences/aws/client_secret`. ## Vault backends There are currently 3 supported backends. | Backend | Description | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | hashicorp | Hashicorp Vault is a secrets and encryption management system. https://www.vaultproject.io/ | | custos | Custos is an NSF-funded project, backed by open source software that provides science gateways such as Galaxy with single sign-on, group management, and management of secrets such as access keys and OAuth2 access tokens. Custos secrets management is backed by Hashicorp's vault, but provides a convenient, always-on ReST API service. | | database | The database backend stores secrets in an encrypted table in the Galaxy database itself. It is a convenient way to get started with a vault, and while it supports basic key rotation, we recommend using one of the other options in production. | ## Configuring Galaxy The first step to using a vault is to configure the `vault_config_file` setting in `galaxy.yml`. ```yaml galaxy: # Vault config file # The value of this option will be resolved with respect to # . vault_config_file: vault_conf.yml ``` ## Configuring vault_conf.yml The vault_conf.yml file itself has two basic fields: ```yaml type: hashicorp # required path_prefix: /galaxy # optional ... ``` The `type` must be a valid backend type: `hashicorp`, `custos`, or `database`. At present, only a single vault backend is supported. The `path_prefix` property indicates the root path under which to store all vault keys. If multiple Galaxy instances are using the same vault, a prefix can be used to uniquely identify the Galaxy instance. If no path_prefix is provided, the prefix defaults to `/galaxy`. ## Vault configuration for Hashicorp Vault ```yaml type: hashicorp path_prefix: /my_galaxy_instance vault_address: http://localhost:8200 vault_token: vault_application_token ``` ## Vault configuration for Custos ```yaml type: custos custos_host: service.staging.usecustos.org custos_port: 30170 custos_client_id: custos-jeREDACTEDye-10000001 custos_client_sec: OGREDACTEDBSUDHn ``` Obtaining the Custos client id and client secret requires first registering your Galaxy instance with Custos. Visit [usecustos.org](http://usecustos.org/) for more information. ## Vault configuration for database ```yaml type: database path_prefix: /galaxy # Encryption keys must be valid fernet keys # To generate a valid key: # # Use the ascii string value as a key # For more details, see: https://cryptography.io/en/latest/fernet/# encryption_keys: - 5RrT94ji178vQwha7TAmEix7DojtsLlxVz8Ef17KWgg= - iNdXd7tRjLnSqRHxuhqQ98GTLU8HUbd5_Xx38iF8nZ0= - IK83IXhE4_7W7xCFEtD9op0BAs11pJqYN236Spppp7g= ``` Secrets stored in the database are encrypted using Fernet keys. Therefore, all listed encryption keys must be valid fernet keys. To generate a new Fernet key, use the following Python code: ```python from cryptography.fernet import Fernet Fernet.generate_key().decode('utf-8') ``` If multiple encryption keys are defined, only the first key is used to encrypt secrets. The remaining keys are tried in turn during decryption. This is useful for key rotation. We recommend periodically generating a new fernet key and rotating old keys. However, before removing an old key, make sure that any data encrypted using that old key is no longer present or the data will no longer be decryptable. ## Configuring user preferences to use the vault The `user_preferences_extra_conf.yml` can be used to automatically route secrets to a vault. An example configuration follows: ```yaml preferences: googledrive: description: Your Google Drive account inputs: - name: client_id label: Client ID type: text required: True - name: client_secret label: Client Secret type: secret store: vault required: True - name: access_token label: Access token type: password store: vault required: True - name: refresh_token label: Refresh Token type: secret store: vault required: True ``` Note the `store: vault` property, which results in the property being stored in the vault. Note also that if you use `type: password`, the secret is sent to the client front-end, but specifying `type: secret` would mean that the values cannot be retrieved by the client, only written to, providing an extra layer of security.