Install HashiCorp Vault on Windows

The robust solution HashiCorp Vault for Windows Server 2019 is intended to handle and safeguard sensitive data. Secrets like API keys, passwords, and certificates can be safely stored, accessed, and managed by administrators with its help. Vault allows you to audit secret usage, enforce access controls, and manage access to secrets through a single interface. Strong security for your infrastructure is provided by its seamless integration with a range of systems and applications and support for high availability.

Install HashiCorp Vault

To install HashiCorp Vault (Version 1.15.0), perform the following steps:

1. Go to the HashiCorp Vault website (https://developer.hashicorp.com/vault/install) and download the latest version of HashiCorp Vault binary form. 
   
   
2. Create a folder with the vault name in any drive on the computer.  Copy the downloaded library to the created folder.
   
   
3. First, create a New Blank Database and pass the Database (DB) details in the code below. It will fetch the server, password, and database details in the below code. The table vault will be automatically created.
   
   
4. Create the vault configuration in the file config.hcl with the below data. 
   
   

   storage "mssql" {   server = "XXXXXXXX"   port = 1433   username = "vaultuser"   password = "XXXXX"   database = "XXXXX"   table = "Vault"   appname = "vault"   schema = "dbo"   connectionTimeout = 30   logLevel = 0 }  listener "tcp" {   address     = "0.0.0.0:8200"   tls_disable = 1 } api_addr = "http://0.0.0.0:8200" ui            = true

5. Create a directory ./vault/data in the vault folder earlier created.
   
   
6. Open Command Prompt, navigate to the vault folder and start the vault Server using this command: vault server -config=config.hcl
   
   
7. Open Google Chrome browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8200. The vault will be initialized now.
   
   
8. On the following screen, enter 5 in the Key shares and 3 in the Key threshold fields and click Initialize. Refer the screenshot below.
   Figure: Root keys
   
   
9. On the unseal keys page, scroll to the bottom and select Download Key. Save the generated unseal keys file to your vault folder. 
   Figure: Unseal keys
   
   The unseal process requires these keys and the access requires the root token.
10.  Click Continue to Unseal.
    
    
11.  Open the download file.
    
    
12.  Copy any one of the keys (not keys_base64) and enter it in the Unseal Key Portion field. Click Unseal to proceed.
    Figure: Unseal vault
    The Unseal status shows 1/3 keys provided.
    
    
13. Enter another key and click Unseal. The Unseal status shows 2/3 keys provided.
    
    
14. Enter another key and click Unseal. After 3 out of 5 unseal keys are entered, the Vault is unsealed and is ready to operate.
    
    
15. Copy the root_token and enter the value in the Token field. Click Sign In.
    Figure: Sign in to vault
    
    
16.  The Dashboard displays basic information about the current server settings.
    Figure: Vault dashboard

Create Secret Engine KV and Transit

After the vault is installed, secret engine KV and transit must be created on the Hashicorp Vault. 

To create the secret engine KV, perform the following steps:

1.  Log into the vault website http://192.168.X.X:8200/ with the vault token.
   Figure: Hashicorp website
2.  After logging in, click Secrets and then click Enable New Engine.
   Figure: Secrets
3.  Select KV in Generic option. Click Next. 
4.  Click Enable Engine.
   Figure: KV
5.  The created KV engine is displayed below.
   Figure: KV engine
6.  Again, click Secrets > Enable New Engine > Generic. Select Transit and click Next.
   Figure: Transit
7.  The created Transit is displayed below.
   Figure: Transit
8.  To configure KV for customer, click the create KV. Select Secrets and click Create Secret.
   Figure: Create KV
9.  To create KV in vault, copy the below JSON code and update the DB connection string, private key, public key and database type as per the customer.
   

   {               "AUTH_PRIVATE_KEY": "",               "AUTH_PUBLIC_KEY": "",               "SUMMIT_AUTH_JWT_SECRET_KEY": "[SECRET USED TO SIGN AND VERIFY JWT TOKENS, IT CAN BE ANY STRING]",               "SUMMIT_DATA_MASTER_KEY": "SUMMIT_DATA_MASTER_VALUE",               "SUMMIT_DATABASE_MSSQL_CONNECTION_STRING": "Data Source=;initial Catalog=;User Id=;Password=;TrustServerCertificate=True",               "SUMMIT_DATABASE_MYSQL_CONNECTION_STRING": "Host=;Port=3306;User=;Password=;Database=;SslMode=Required;",               "SUMMIT_DATABASE_TYPE": "mssql" }

   Note

   In the above JSON, the DB string needs to be changed for respective instance. 
   
   
10.  The below screen is displayed when you click Create Secret.
     Figure: Create secret
    In the above screen, the JSON toggle is deactivated by default. Enable the toggle button to activate JSON.
    Enter a Path for this secret. Pass the same name as KV name in DB while executing Vault script. After activating JSON and entering the Path for the secret, paste the copied JSON with all the details for public key, private key, DB connection string etc.
    
    
11.  After creating the KV vault, the Transit Secret must be configured.
12.  To configure Transit, click Transit under Secrets on the home screen. Click Create Encryption Key.
    Figure: Create encryption key
13.  Enter SUMMIT_DATA_MASTER_VALUE as the name. Click Create Encryption Key. The Transit is configured. 

Run the below command, to Run Vault as a Service. 

sc.exe create VaultServer binPath="C:\Hashicorp_Vault\vault.exe server -config=C:\Hashicorp_Vault\vault_mssql_prod.hcl" displayName="Vault Server" start=auto

To Auto Unseal vault, whenever the server gets rebooted save the below power shell script by modifying the unseal keys. 

Create a Task Scheduler to run the above power shell script. 

The below XML file can be used to create the required Task Scheduler. 

For reference, below are the screenshots of the Task scheduler.

Figure: Task scheduler job

Figure: General tab

Figure: Trigger tab

Figure: Actions tab