Azure Services

Azure Key Vault Documentation

Azure Key Vault is a cloud service for securely storing and accessing secrets, such as API keys, passwords, certificates, and cryptographic keys. Key Vault allows you to safeguard cryptographic keys and secrets used by cloud applications and services.

What is Azure Key Vault?

Azure Key Vault provides a centralized cloud solution for managing sensitive information. It enables developers to securely store and access information required by applications and services. Using Key Vault helps simplify the process of managing secrets, reducing the risk of exposing them in application code or configuration files.

Key Features

  • Secret Management: Store and manage passwords, connection strings, and other secrets.
  • Key Management: Create, import, and manage cryptographic keys for encryption and digital signing.
  • Certificate Management: Provision, manage, and deploy SSL/TLS certificates for secure communication.
  • Access Control: Fine-grained access policies to control who can access which secrets and keys.
  • Auditing: Comprehensive logging of all Key Vault operations for security and compliance.
  • HSM Support: Option to use Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) for enhanced security.

Common Use Cases

Azure Key Vault is essential for various scenarios, including:

  • Securing credentials for database connections and API endpoints.
  • Managing SSL/TLS certificates for web applications.
  • Encrypting data at rest and in transit using managed keys.
  • Storing and protecting application configuration secrets.

Getting Started with Azure Key Vault

You can create and manage Key Vault instances through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell, or programmatically using Azure SDKs.

Creating a Key Vault in the Azure Portal

1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

2. Search for "Key Vaults" and select "Create".

3. Fill in the required details, including subscription, resource group, region, vault name, and pricing tier.

4. Configure access policies and networking settings as needed.

5. Review and create the Key Vault.

Storing a Secret

Once your Key Vault is created, you can add secrets:


# Example using Azure CLI
az keyvault secret set --vault-name MyKeyVaultName --name MySecretName --value "MySecretValue"

Accessing a Secret

Applications can access secrets using managed identities or service principals.


# Example using Azure SDK (Python)
from azure.keyvault.secrets import SecretClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
client = SecretClient(vault_url="https://MyKeyVaultName.vault.azure.net/", credential=credential)

secret = client.get_secret("MySecretName")
print(secret.value)
Important: Always use managed identities for Azure resources to authenticate to Key Vault when possible. This eliminates the need to manage credentials in your application code.

Further Reading