Running Vault Server in Production

Deploying HashiCorp Vault in a production environment involves more than just flipping the development mode switch. You need a robust configuration file, a high-availability storage backend, and automation to manage scale and reliability. This guide covers core considerations, deployment topologies, service management, and manual installation steps.

Key Considerations for Production Vault

1. Persistent Vault Nodes
   Run one or more Vault servers, each loading the same config.hcl to ensure consistent configuration.

2. Storage Backend
   Select a proven, highly available backend such as Consul or Integrated Storage (Raft). Avoid untested solutions in production.

3. High Availability (HA)
   Form a cluster of Vault nodes to maintain uptime and redundancy if any node fails.

4. Proximity to Applications
   Host Vault in the same cloud region or data center as your applications to reduce network latency.

5. Infrastructure Automation
   Leverage tools like Terraform and Packer for repeatable, version-controlled deployments.

1. Starting the Vault Server

Use your custom configuration file to launch Vault:

vault server -config=/path/to/config.hcl

2. Service Management with systemd

On Linux, systemd is the recommended service manager. Below is a placeholder image linking to production-ready unit files for Vault, Consul server, and Consul client.

3. Storage Backend Comparison

4. Deployment Topologies

4.1 Single-Node Deployment

A basic single-server Vault is quick to provision but has no redundancy. If the node fails, Vault is unavailable. Suitable only for non-critical testing.

• One Vault node with TLS enabled
• Storage backend configured in config.hcl

4.2 Multi-Node Cluster with Integrated Storage

Vault’s Integrated Storage (Raft) allows native data replication across nodes A, B, and C. Each node has its own TLS certificate and configuration.

4.3 Multi-Node Cluster with External Storage

For enterprise scenarios, use Consul or another external HA backend. All Vault nodes point to the same storage cluster, ensuring data consistency and availability.

5. Manual Installation Steps

Understanding manual installation helps you automate effectively. Follow these steps on each Vault node:

1. Download the latest Vault ZIP from Vault Downloads.
2. Unzip to a staging directory.
3. Move the vault binary to a directory in your PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin).
4. On Windows, set environment variables accordingly.
5. Create or adjust config.hcl for your chosen storage backend.
6. Write systemd service files for Vault (and Consul if used).
7. Install and configure Consul and join the cluster.
8. Start services and validate cluster health.

Next Steps

In the next section, we’ll automate the deployment of a three-node Vault cluster on Consul, demonstrating best practices and hands-on configuration.

References

• Vault Official Documentation
• Consul Official Documentation
• Terraform | Packer