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Migrate Consul to Raft storage

This procedure assumes you have a Vault cluster deployed in a Kubernetes environment configured with Consul storage. The storage migration can occur while leaving the Consul cluster intact. A single change to the Consul cluster is a lock file written by Vault during the migration.

This guide uses basic examples and default Vault configurations. It is for illustrative purposes, and adaption to specific configurations relevant to your environment is still required.

Back up data

Always back up your data before attempting migration! Although this is an offline operation and the risk is low, it is advisable to take a recent snapshot from your Consul cluster before proceeding.

Overview

This guide uses an intermediate Helm configuration to introduce an init container that will perform the storage migration, and then start a single Vault server using the Raft storage backend to verify the results. Then update the Helm configuration to remove the init container and start Vault replicas.

Vault and Kubernetes setup

Consider the following vault status output and Helm Chart values for Vault:

Key             Value
---             -----
Seal Type       shamir
Initialized     true
Sealed          false
Total Shares    1
Threshold       1
Version         1.14.8+ent
Build Date      2023-12-05T01:49:39Z
Storage Type    consul
Cluster Name    vault-cluster-68870bf8
Cluster ID      cd18c692-f2e3-77a5-fba3-28f06f41f375
HA Enabled      true
HA Cluster      https://vault-0.vault-internal:8201
HA Mode         active
Active Since    2024-04-10T02:45:33.367042122Z
Last WAL        52

Helm chart values:

global:
  enabled: false

server:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: hashicorp/vault-enterprise
    tag: 1.14.8-ent
  enterpriseLicense:
    secretName: vault-license
    secretKey: vault.hclic
  ha:
    enabled: true
    replicas: 3
    config: |
      ui = true
      service_registration "kubernetes" {}

      listener "tcp" {
        address = ":8200"
        cluster_address = ":8201"
        tls_disable = 1
      }

      storage "consul" {
        path = "vault"
        address = "http://HOST_IP:8500"
      }

Migration procedure

  1. Uninstall Vault via Helm.

    $ helm uninstall vault

    Deployed StatefulSets cannot have certain attributes modified after their initial deployment. Therefore, the StatefulSet deployment must be entirely replaced.

    Vault servers using Consul storage are by default stateless. Unless explicitly configured, the Vault server StatefulSet does not create any Persistent Volume Claims (PVC) or other artifacts. Vault's index holds its state, which is entirely stored in the Consul server StatefulSet's persistent volumes.

    Caution

    It is strongly advised to review your Vault deployment configurations and take appropriate backups for any stateful information managed via Helm or other orchestration platforms.

  2. Create a ConfigMap containing the Storage Migration configuration.

    $ cat > vault-storage-migration-configmap.yml <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: vault
    app.kubernetes.io/name: vault
  name: storage-migration
  namespace: default
data:
  migrate.hcl: |-
    storage_source "consul" {
      address = "http://consul-server.default.svc.cluster.local:8500"
      path = "vault/"
    }

    storage_destination "raft" {
      path = "/vault/data"
    }

    cluster_addr = "https://vault-0.vault-internal:8201" 
EOF

    Often your Vault server should communicate to Consul via a Consul client agent. This example uses the service endpoint for a Consul server deployed in Kubernetes, although it can work for a Consul server cluster deployed outside of Kubernetes as well.

  3. Apply the ConfigMap.

    $ kubectl create -f vault-storage-migration-configmap.yml

  4. Install Vault via Helm deployment with Raft Migration storage configuration.

    $ cat > vault-migration-values.yml <<EOF
global:
  enabled: false

server:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: hashicorp/vault-enterprise
    tag: 1.14.8-ent
  enterpriseLicense:
    secretName: vault-license
    secretKey: vault.hclic
  extraInitContainers:
    - name: vault-storage-migration
      image: hashicorp/vault-enterprise:1.14.8-ent
      command:
        - "/bin/sh"
        - "-ec"
      args:
        - "/bin/vault operator migrate -config /vault/storage-migration/migrate.hcl"
      volumeMounts:
        - name: storage-migration
          mountPath: "/vault/storage-migration"
        - name: data
          mountPath: "/vault/data"
  volumeMounts:
    - name: storage-migration
      mountPath: "/vault/storage-migration"
  volumes:
    - name: storage-migration
      configMap:
        name: storage-migration
  dataStorage:
    enabled: true
    size: "1Gi"
  ha:
    enabled: true
    replicas: 1
    raft:
      enabled: true
      config: |
        ui = true
        service_registration "kubernetes" {}

        listener "tcp" {
          address = ":8200"
          cluster_address = ":8201"
          tls_disable = 1
        }

        storage "raft" {
          path = "/vault/data"
          retry_join {
            auto_join_scheme = "http"
            auto_join = "provider=k8s"
          }
        }
EOF

    Configuration notes

    • storage “raft” configuration to specify the path for the Raft DB (/vault/data by default), and any retry_join parameters in your original configuration.
      • This example uses auto_join to automatically find Raft peers via the Kubernetes API. See the retry_join for more information.
    • dataStorage configuration in the Helm override values, to specify the parameters of the PVCs the Vault StatefulSet will create.
    • extraInitContainers will start an init container mounting the storage migration ConfigMap and data volume, which it will then use to execute the storage migration.
    • replicas: 1
      • This setting is temporary for the purposes of the migration. A new Vault StatefulSet with one replica to confirm the init container completed the migration and unseal Vault using the new storage backend.

  5. Apply this configuration.

    $ helm install vault hashicorp/vault -f vault-migration-values.yml

  6. Review the migration logs.

    $ kubectl logs vault-0 -c vault-server-migration

  7. Unseal Vault.

    $ kubectl exec -it vault-0 -- vault operator unseal
Key                     Value
---                     -----
Seal Type               shamir
Initialized             true
Sealed                  false
Total Shares            1
Threshold               1
Version                 1.14.8+ent
Build Date              2023-12-05T01:49:39Z
Storage Type            raft
Cluster Name            vault-cluster-68870bf8
Cluster ID              cd18c692-f2e3-77a5-fba3-28f06f41f375
HA Enabled              true
HA Cluster              https://vault-0.vault-internal:8201
HA Mode                 active
Active Since            2024-04-10T04:20:23.707098402Z
Raft Committed Index    157
Raft Applied Index      157
Last WAL                55

  8. Update Vault Helm deployment with Raft storage configuration.

    $ cat > vault-raft-values.yml <<EOF
global:
  enabled: false
server:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: hashicorp/vault-enterprise
    tag: 1.14.8-ent
  enterpriseLicense:
    secretName: vault-license
    secretKey: vault.hclic
  dataStorage:
    enabled: true
    size: "1Gi"
  ha:
    enabled: true
    replicas: 5
    raft:
      enabled: true
      config: |
        ui = true
        service_registration "kubernetes" {}

        listener "tcp" {
          address = ":8200"
          cluster_address = ":8201"
          tls_disable = 1
        }

        storage "raft" {
          path = "/vault/data"
          retry_join {
            auto_join_scheme = "http"
            auto_join = "provider=k8s"
          }
        }
EOF

    Configuration notes

    • replicas: 5
      • Upgrade the Helm deployment in place using the final Raft storage configuration, removing the extraInitContainer and storage migration ConfigMap, and increasing the number of replicas. The retry_join parameters used by the new Vault server replicas to automatically join the cluster.

  9. Apply the configuration.

    $ helm upgrade vault hashicorp/vault -f vault-raft-values.yml

  10. Unseal Vault.

    $ for i in {1..4} ; do kubectl exec -it vault-0 -- vault operator unseal ; done

  11. Confirm the Raft peers have formed a quorum.

    $ kubectl exec -it vault-0 -- vault operator raft list-peers

Node                                    Address                        State       Voter
----                                    -------                        -----       -----
24c166d8-a8bb-3ac7-f8a0-12bd066a34bb    vault-0.vault-internal:8201    leader      true
626434d1-170b-575a-2a04-af4f2e90820b    vault-1.vault-internal:8201    follower    true
1dfbba31-9b5b-2d16-18ce-bfa7b6c0ead6    vault-2.vault-internal:8201    follower    true
3f333082-1a64-7559-0142-e4f1658a28f3    vault-3.vault-internal:8201    follower    true
9ca5a15e-3ddc-d132-0b46-5b895f3828dc    vault-4.vault-internal:8201    follower    true

Rollback procedure

To revert to the original configuration, you'll just need to delete the Helm deployment, and re-deploy it using the override values specifying your Consul storage configuration.

Note that the Vault Helm Chart's default configuration using Raft storage will retain any PVCs created. Vault does not use these while configured with Consul storage. You will need to remove the PVCs before re-attempting the migration.

  1. Uninstall Vault via Helm.

    $ helm uninstall vault

  2. Install Vault via Helm with old Consul storage configuration.

    $ `helm install vault hashicorp/vault -f vault-consul-values.yml

  3. Unseal Vault and confirm the storage has reverted to Consul.

    $ kubectl exec -it vault-0 -- vault status
Key             Value
---             -----
Seal Type       shamir
Initialized     true
Sealed          false
Total Shares    1
Threshold       1
Version         1.14.8+ent
Build Date      2023-12-05T01:49:39Z
Storage Type    consul
Cluster Name    vault-cluster-68870bf8
Cluster ID      cd18c692-f2e3-77a5-fba3-28f06f41f375
HA Enabled      true
HA Cluster      https://vault-0.vault-internal:8201
HA Mode         active
Active Since    2024-04-10T04:44:12.516016652Z
Last WAL        54

References

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