name: secrets-management description: External Secrets Operator and OpenBao patterns for secure secret synchronization and management. agents: [bolt, cipher] triggers: [secret, openbao, vault, external-secrets, eso, credentials, token]

Secrets Management

Secure secret synchronization using External Secrets Operator (ESO) and OpenBao.

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   OpenBao   │────►│ External Secrets │────►│ K8s Secrets     │
│   (Vault)   │     │    Operator      │     │ (auto-synced)   │
└─────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘

OpenBao Setup

OpenBao is the secrets vault (HashiCorp Vault fork, MPL 2.0 licensed).

Initialize and Unseal

# Initialize (first time only)
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao operator init

# Unseal (required after pod restart)
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao operator unseal <key1>
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao operator unseal <key2>
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao operator unseal <key3>

# Verify status
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao status

Enable KV Secrets Engine

kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao secrets enable -path=secret kv-v2

Store a Secret

kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao kv put secret/myapp/db \
  username=myuser \
  password=mypassword

External Secrets Operator

ESO syncs secrets from OpenBao to Kubernetes Secrets.

ClusterSecretStore

Cluster-wide connection to OpenBao:

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ClusterSecretStore
metadata:
  name: openbao
spec:
  provider:
    vault:
      server: "http://openbao.openbao.svc:8200"
      path: "secret"
      version: "v2"
      auth:
        tokenSecretRef:
          name: openbao-token
          namespace: external-secrets
          key: token

ExternalSecret

Sync specific secrets to a namespace:

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: myapp-db-credentials
  namespace: myapp
spec:
  refreshInterval: 1h
  secretStoreRef:
    name: openbao
    kind: ClusterSecretStore
  
  target:
    name: myapp-db-credentials  # K8s Secret name
    creationPolicy: Owner
  
  data:
    - secretKey: username       # Key in K8s Secret
      remoteRef:
        key: secret/myapp/db    # Path in OpenBao
        property: username      # Field in OpenBao secret
    
    - secretKey: password
      remoteRef:
        key: secret/myapp/db
        property: password

Template Secrets

Transform secrets during sync:

spec:
  target:
    name: myapp-connection-string
    template:
      type: Opaque
      data:
        DATABASE_URL: |
          postgresql://{{ .username }}:{{ .password }}@db.svc:5432/myapp
  
  data:
    - secretKey: username
      remoteRef:
        key: secret/myapp/db
        property: username
    - secretKey: password
      remoteRef:
        key: secret/myapp/db
        property: password

Common Patterns

Database Credentials

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: postgres-credentials
  namespace: databases
spec:
  refreshInterval: 1h
  secretStoreRef:
    name: openbao
    kind: ClusterSecretStore
  target:
    name: postgres-credentials
  dataFrom:
    - extract:
        key: secret/databases/postgres

API Keys

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: api-keys
  namespace: myapp
spec:
  refreshInterval: 30m
  secretStoreRef:
    name: openbao
    kind: ClusterSecretStore
  data:
    - secretKey: OPENAI_API_KEY
      remoteRef:
        key: secret/apis/openai
        property: api_key
    - secretKey: GITHUB_TOKEN
      remoteRef:
        key: secret/apis/github
        property: token

Validation Commands

# Check ExternalSecret sync status
kubectl get externalsecrets -A
kubectl describe externalsecret <name> -n <namespace>

# Check synced K8s Secret
kubectl get secret <name> -n <namespace> -o yaml

# Check ClusterSecretStore status
kubectl get clustersecretstores

# OpenBao status
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao status

Troubleshooting

ExternalSecret not syncing

# Check ESO controller logs
kubectl logs -n external-secrets -l app.kubernetes.io/name=external-secrets

# Check ExternalSecret status
kubectl describe externalsecret <name> -n <namespace>

OpenBao sealed after restart

# Check seal status
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao status

# Unseal (need 3 of 5 keys typically)
kubectl exec -n openbao openbao-0 -- bao operator unseal

Best Practices

1. Never commit secrets - Use ExternalSecrets for all credentials
2. Use refresh intervals - 1h for stable secrets, 30m for rotating
3. Scope secrets narrowly - One ExternalSecret per application
4. Template connection strings - Avoid exposing raw credentials
5. Monitor sync status - Alert on ExternalSecret failures
6. Backup unseal keys - Store securely outside cluster