We are trying to test the beta Secrets Management feature using the Environment Variable backend but we can not get a certificate key to work. What would an example look like?
How to configure a certificate key with Secrets Management and the Environment Variable backend
Uses:
Kong Gateway
TL;DR
How do I configure a certificate key using Kong’s Secrets Management Environment Variable backend?
Set the certificate’s key field to {vault://env/<environment variable name>} in your declarative config (or Kong Manager) and export the referenced environment variable with the real PEM contents — e.g. export ENV_REFERENCE_API_KEY="$(cat key.pem)" — since a single-quoted string with literal \n escapes won’t produce real newlines and will fail to parse.
Steps
If you have a declarative configuration file to be used with deck or in a db-less configuration, you need to make sure to configure the certificate key as {vault://env/<environment variable name that holds the key>}
The declarative config file should look like this:
- cert: |-
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
id: f3ae1bb2-ea6a-4caf-a7a7-2f078b7842db
key: '{vault://env/env_reference_api_key}'In Kong Manager the certificate key needs to be entered as in the below screenshot:
The environment variable ENV_REFERENCE_API_KEY can be configured in the preferred way depending on the set up, e.g. set in a Linux shell. The value must contain real newline characters, not a literal \n-escaped single-quoted string — a single-quoted shell string with literal \n sequences does not produce actual newlines, and the resulting PEM will fail to parse (e.g. PEM_read_bio_PrivateKey() failed, causing the TLS handshake to fail). The safest way to set this is to load the key file directly so real newlines are preserved:
export ENV_REFERENCE_API_KEY="$(cat key.pem)"or set in a docker container etc., making sure the value is passed with real newlines rather than escaped \n sequences.