Vault on the HashiCorp Cloud Platform runs Vault Enterprise, which requires a namespace for most operations.

saltstack/salt#58586 added namespace capabilities to SaltStack's Vault module, which will be available in version 3004. This repo demonstrates how to backport it to 3003.

Sign up for the HashiCorp Cloud Platform and create a Vault Cluster. Make sure to allow public access so it is reachable by the Vagrant boxes.

Login to the Vault UI and create a new KV secrets engine. Use kv for the path and version 2.

Create a simple secret, e.g. kv/user with the values name=test and password=hunter2.

These are basic policies that grant a lot of access by default. For a production system, you may wish to create policies for different minion types.

Create a salt-master policy:

path "auth/*" {
  capabilities = ["read", "list", "sudo", "create", "update", "delete"]
}

and a saltstack/minions policy:

path "kv/*" {
  capabilities = ["create", "read", "update", "delete", "list"]
}

The names of these policies must match the policy names in the Salt master's configuration.

You'll need Vagrant and VirtualBox installed. Feel free to tweak the Vagrantfile to work with your system.

Create the VMs, SSH into the master, and become root:

vagrant up
vagrant ssh master
sudo -i

Connect the minion and the master's minion to the master, then test they're connected:

salt-key -A

# The following keys are going to be accepted:
# Unaccepted Keys:
# master.local
# minion.local
# Proceed? [n/Y] y
# Key for minion master.local accepted.
# Key for minion minion.local accepted.

salt \* test.ping

Run a highstate on both machines:

salt \* state.apply

This will install the vault binary on both machines (for manual debugging), configure the master to use the Vault modules, and patch Salt to work with Vault namespaces.

Create a Vault token with the salt-master policy:

export VAULT_ADDR=https://<your-cluster>.aws.hashicorp.cloud:8200
export VAULT_NAMESPACE=admin

vault login
# (enter your admin token)

vault token create -policy salt-master -ttl 8h

Note the -ttl parameter - after this time, the token will be invalid.

Update /etc/salt/master.d/vault.conf with your cluster's URL and the token you just generated. Make sure the URL has no trailing slash.

Then restart the master and the minions:

vi /etc/salt/master.d/vault.conf

systemctl restart salt-master
# May need to wait a short while for the minions to reconnect

salt \* service.restart salt-minion
# May not return

We should now be ready to read secrets from Vault.

salt \* vault.read_secret kv/user

# minion.local:
#     ----------
#     name:
#         test
#     password:
#         hunter2
# master.local:
#     ----------
#     name:
#         test
#     password:
#         hunter2

salt \* vault.read_secret kv/user metadata=True

# minion.local:
#     ----------
#     data:
#         ----------
#         name:
#             test
#         password:
#             hunter2
#     metadata:
#         ----------
#         created_time:
#             2021-07-03T14:11:29.877306297Z
#         deletion_time:
#         destroyed:
#             False
#         version:
#             2
# master.local:
#     ----------
#     data:
#         ----------
#         name:
#             test
#         password:
#             hunter2
#     metadata:
#         ----------
#         created_time:
#             2021-07-03T14:11:29.877306297Z
#         deletion_time:
#         destroyed:
#             False
#         version:
#             2

Both the minion and the minion on the master should return the secret from Vault.

vault login

vault kv get kv/user

# ====== Metadata ======
# Key              Value
# ---              -----
# created_time     2021-07-03T14:11:29.877306297Z
# deletion_time    n/a
# destroyed        false
# version          2
#
# ====== Data ======
# Key         Value
# ---         -----
# name        test
# password    hunter2

• Copy salt/patch_salt.sls to a location in your environment, e.g. /srv/salt/vault/patch_namespaces.sls
• Copy salt/files/58586-vault-namespace.diff too, e.g. /srv/salt/vault/files/58586-vault-namespace.diff
• Update the file path referenced in the state file:

  vault_patch:
    file.patch:
      - name: '{{grains.saltpath}}'
-     - source: salt:https://files/58586-vault-namespace.diff
+     - source: salt:https://vault/files/58586-vault-namespace.diff
      - strip: 2

• Run the state: salt \* state.sls vault.patch_namespaces