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»Installing the Vault EKM Provider

»Prerequisites

  • Vault Enterprise server 1.9+ with a license for the Advanced Data Protection Key Management module
  • Microsoft SQL Server for Windows (SQL Server for Linux does not support EKM)
  • An authenticated Vault client

To check your Vault version and license, you can run:

vault status
vault license get -format=json

vault status
vault license get -format=json

The list of features should include "Key Management Transparent Data Encryption".

»Installing the Vault EKM provider

»Configuring Vault

The EKM provider requires AppRole auth and the Transit secret engine to be setup on the Vault server. The steps below can be used to configure Vault ready for the EKM provider to use it.

Note: The first release of the Vault EKM provider does not support custom mount paths or namespaces for the AppRole and Transit engines.

Note: rsa-2048 is currently the only supported key type.

  1. Set up AppRole auth:

    vault auth enable approle
vault write auth/approle/role/tde-role \
    token_ttl=20m \
    max_token_ttl=30m \
    token_policies=tde-policy

    vault auth enable approle
vault write auth/approle/role/tde-role \
    token_ttl=20m \
    max_token_ttl=30m \
    token_policies=tde-policy

  2. Retrieve the AppRole ID and secret ID for use later when configuring SQL Server:

    vault read auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/role-id
vault write -f auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/secret-id

    vault read auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/role-id
vault write -f auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/secret-id

  3. Enable the transit secret engine and create a key:

    vault secrets enable transit
vault write -f transit/keys/ekm-encryption-key type="rsa-2048"

    vault secrets enable transit
vault write -f transit/keys/ekm-encryption-key type="rsa-2048"

  4. Create a policy for the Vault EKM provider to use. The following policy has the minimum required permissions:

    vault policy write tde-policy -<<EOF
path "transit/keys/ekm-encryption-key" {
    capabilities = ["create", "read", "update", "delete"]
}

path "transit/keys" {
    capabilities = ["list"]
}

path "transit/encrypt/ekm-encryption-key" {
    capabilities = ["update"]
}

path "transit/decrypt/ekm-encryption-key" {
    capabilities = ["update"]
}

path "sys/license/status" {
    capabilities = ["read"]
}
EOF

    vault policy write tde-policy -<<EOF
path "transit/keys/ekm-encryption-key" {
    capabilities = ["create", "read", "update", "delete"]
}

path "transit/keys" {
    capabilities = ["list"]
}

path "transit/encrypt/ekm-encryption-key" {
    capabilities = ["update"]
}

path "transit/decrypt/ekm-encryption-key" {
    capabilities = ["update"]
}

path "sys/license/status" {
    capabilities = ["read"]
}
EOF

»Configuring SQL Server

The remaining steps are all run on the database server.

»Install the EKM provider on the server

  1. Download and run the latest Vault EKM provider installer from releases.hashicorp.com

  2. Enter your Vault server's address when prompted and complete the installer

»Configure the EKM provider using SQL

Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, and run the queries below to complete installation.

  1. Enable the EKM feature and create a cryptographic provider using the folder you just installed the EKM provider into.

    -- Enable advanced options
USE master;
GO

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO

RECONFIGURE;
GO

-- Enable EKM provider
EXEC sp_configure 'EKM provider enabled', 1;
GO

RECONFIGURE;
GO

CREATE CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider
FROM FILE = 'C:\Program Files\HashiCorp\Transit Vault EKM Provider\TransitVaultEKM.dll'
GO

    -- Enable advanced options
USE master;
GO

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO

RECONFIGURE;
GO

-- Enable EKM provider
EXEC sp_configure 'EKM provider enabled', 1;
GO

RECONFIGURE;
GO

CREATE CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider
FROM FILE = 'C:\Program Files\HashiCorp\Transit Vault EKM Provider\TransitVaultEKM.dll'
GO

  2. Next, create credentials for an admin to use EKM with your AppRole role and secret ID from above:

    -- Replace <approle-role-id> and <approle-secret-id> with the values from
-- the earlier vault commands:
-- vault read auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/role-id
-- vault write -f auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/secret-id
CREATE CREDENTIAL TransitVaultCredentials
    WITH IDENTITY = '<approle-role-id>',
    SECRET = '<approle-secret-id>'
FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider;
GO

-- Replace <domain>\<login> with the SQL Server administrator's login
ALTER LOGIN "<domain>\<login>" ADD CREDENTIAL TransitVaultCredentials;

    -- Replace <approle-role-id> and <approle-secret-id> with the values from
-- the earlier vault commands:
-- vault read auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/role-id
-- vault write -f auth/approle/role/ekm-encryption-key-role/secret-id
CREATE CREDENTIAL TransitVaultCredentials
    WITH IDENTITY = '<approle-role-id>',
    SECRET = '<approle-secret-id>'
FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider;
GO

-- Replace <domain>\<login> with the SQL Server administrator's login
ALTER LOGIN "<domain>\<login>" ADD CREDENTIAL TransitVaultCredentials;

  3. You can now create an asymmetric key using the transit key set up earlier:

    CREATE ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric
FROM PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider
WITH
CREATION_DISPOSITION = OPEN_EXISTING,
PROVIDER_KEY_NAME = 'ekm-encryption-key';

    CREATE ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric
FROM PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider
WITH
CREATION_DISPOSITION = OPEN_EXISTING,
PROVIDER_KEY_NAME = 'ekm-encryption-key';

  4. Create another login from the new asymmetric key:

     -- Replace <approle-role-id> and <approle-secret-id> with the values from
-- the earlier vault commands again
CREATE CREDENTIAL TransitVaultTDECredentials
    WITH IDENTITY = '<approle-role-id>',
    SECRET = '<approle-secret-id>'
FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider;
GO

CREATE LOGIN TransitVaultTDELogin
FROM ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric;
GO

ALTER LOGIN TransitVaultTDELogin
ADD CREDENTIAL TransitVaultTDECredentials;
GO

     -- Replace <approle-role-id> and <approle-secret-id> with the values from
-- the earlier vault commands again
CREATE CREDENTIAL TransitVaultTDECredentials
    WITH IDENTITY = '<approle-role-id>',
    SECRET = '<approle-secret-id>'
FOR CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVIDER TransitVaultProvider;
GO

CREATE LOGIN TransitVaultTDELogin
FROM ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric;
GO

ALTER LOGIN TransitVaultTDELogin
ADD CREDENTIAL TransitVaultTDECredentials;
GO

  5. Finally, you can enable TDE and protect the database encryption key with the asymmetric key managed by Vault's Transit secret engine:

    CREATE DATABASE TestTDE
GO

USE TestTDE;
GO

CREATE DATABASE ENCRYPTION KEY
WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256
ENCRYPTION BY SERVER ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric;
GO

ALTER DATABASE TestTDE
SET ENCRYPTION ON;
GO

    CREATE DATABASE TestTDE
GO

USE TestTDE;
GO

CREATE DATABASE ENCRYPTION KEY
WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256
ENCRYPTION BY SERVER ASYMMETRIC KEY TransitVaultAsymmetric;
GO

ALTER DATABASE TestTDE
SET ENCRYPTION ON;
GO

  6. Check the status of database encryption using the following queries:

    SELECT * FROM sys.dm_database_encryption_keys;

SELECT (SELECT name FROM sys.databases WHERE database_id = k.database_id) as name, 
    encryption_state, key_algorithm, key_length,
    encryptor_type, encryption_state_desc, encryption_scan_state_desc FROM sys.dm_database_encryption_keys k;


    SELECT * FROM sys.dm_database_encryption_keys;

SELECT (SELECT name FROM sys.databases WHERE database_id = k.database_id) as name, 
    encryption_state, key_algorithm, key_length,
    encryptor_type, encryption_state_desc, encryption_scan_state_desc FROM sys.dm_database_encryption_keys k;