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Secrets

I have the ability to create Secrets through Environment Variables or the Secrets Provider App on an on-prem installation of Nautobot. How does this work with Nautobot Cloud Console?

This is a three-step process similar to what it would be with an on-prem installation with one change. Nautobot Cloud Console only supports HashiCorp Vault and Environment Variable Provider types.

Nautobot Cloud Console stores secrets in an encrypted store but to keep things simple it does not support any Provider types other than HashiCorp Vault and Environment Variable for Nautobot secrets.

  1. Create a new Secret in Nautobot Cloud Console. This is done via Organization Secrets. To access the detailed documentation click the question mark "?" button at the top of the Secret creation/edition form.
  2. Associate the Secret to your Nautobot instance in Nautobot Cloud Console. To do this click the "+" next to your Secret or navigate to Nautobot instance page Secrets tab and click the "Associate" button at the top of the page. If you intend to use the Secret via environment variable you must restart the Nautobot instance before it will be available.
  3. Create the appropriate Secret(s) and Secret Group(s) inside Nautobot, using secret path(s) or environment variable name(s) provided in Nautobot Cloud Console. Ensure each new Secret is created using the Provider type of HashiCorp Vault or Environment Variable.

For full details, see Manage Secrets.

Should I use HashiCorp Vault or Environment Variables for the Provider type of my Nautobot Secrets?

We recommend using HashiCorp Vault for Secrets. This is because if you need to change the value of a secret, you can simply update the value in the Nautobot Cloud Console and the new value will be available automatically without needing to restart the instance.