External Secrets providers

Jan 1, 0001

Definition

External Secrets providers are integrations that allow applications to securely access secrets stored in external secret management systems, such as AWS Secrets Manager, HashiCorp Vault, or Azure Key Vault. These providers abstract the complexity of directly interacting with secret management APIs, enabling applications to retrieve sensitive information like API keys, passwords, and certificates without embedding them in the application code or configuration files. This approach enhances security by centralizing secret management and reducing the risk of accidental exposure.

Secure Settings Example

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: my-secret
spec:
  backendType: secretsManager
  data:
    - key: production/db-password
      name: db-password
  target:
    name: my-secret
    template:
      data:
        db-password: '{{ .db-password }}'
  refreshInterval: 1h

Insecure Settings Example

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: my-secret
spec:
  backendType: secretsManager
  data:
    - key: production/db-password
      name: db-password
  target:
    name: my-secret
    template:
      data:
        db-password: '{{ .db-password }}'
  refreshInterval: 0s  # Setting refresh interval to zero can lead to excessive API calls and potential rate limiting