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AWS Secrets Manager

AWS Secrets Manager

AWS Secrets Manager provides a secure way to manage, rotate, and retrieve database credentials, API keys, and other secrets throughout their lifecycle. It helps keep your applications, services, and IT resources safe by eliminating the need to hardcode sensitive information in application code.

Core Functionality​

Secure Storage: Store secrets encrypted using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with fine-grained access controls to ensure only authorized users and applications can retrieve them.

Automatic Rotation: Automatically rotate secrets on a schedule you define, ensuring credentials are regularly updated without manual intervention or application downtime.

Programmatic Access: Retrieve secrets programmatically using AWS SDKs or CLI, eliminating the need to embed credentials in application code or configuration files.

Version Management: Maintain multiple versions of secrets to support smooth transitions during rotation cycles and enable rollback if needed.

How It Works​

Applications and services retrieve secrets from Secrets Manager using AWS APIs instead of storing credentials locally. When secrets are rotated, Secrets Manager coordinates with the target service to update credentials and validates that the new credentials work before completing the rotation process.

Use Cases​

Database Credential Management​

Automatically rotate database passwords for Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Amazon DocumentDB, and Amazon Redshift without requiring application changes or downtime.

API Key Management​

Store and rotate API keys for third-party services, ensuring your applications always use current, valid credentials for external integrations.

Application Configuration​

Manage sensitive configuration parameters like encryption keys, OAuth tokens, and connection strings separately from application code.

Cross-Environment Secrets​

Maintain different versions of secrets for development, staging, and production environments while using the same application code across all environments.

Connection to Other AWS Services​

Amazon RDS: Seamlessly integrate with RDS databases for automatic credential rotation, with built-in support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQL Server.

Amazon Aurora: Native integration enables automatic rotation of Aurora database credentials with zero downtime.

AWS Lambda: Lambda functions can retrieve secrets at runtime, enabling serverless applications to access databases and external services securely.

Amazon ECS/EKS: Container applications can retrieve secrets through task definitions or environment variables without embedding credentials in container images.

AWS KMS: All secrets are encrypted using KMS keys, providing an additional layer of security and compliance capabilities.

AWS CloudTrail: All access to secrets is logged in CloudTrail for auditing and compliance monitoring.

AWS VPC: Secrets Manager endpoints can be accessed through VPC endpoints, ensuring secret retrieval traffic never leaves your VPC.

Key Features​

Cross-Region Replication: Replicate secrets across multiple AWS Regions for disaster recovery and multi-region applications.

Resource-Based Policies: Control access to secrets using resource-based policies that define which users, roles, and accounts can access specific secrets.

Rotation Functions: Use AWS-provided Lambda functions for common rotation scenarios or create custom rotation functions for specialized use cases.

Integration Templates: Pre-built templates for common AWS services simplify setup and configuration of automatic rotation.

Benefits​

Enhanced Security: Eliminate hardcoded credentials in applications and configuration files, reducing the risk of credential exposure.

Reduced Operational Overhead: Automatic rotation eliminates the manual work and coordination required for credential updates.

Improved Compliance: Centralized secret management and audit trails help meet compliance requirements for credential handling.

Application Resilience: Automatic rotation with validation ensures applications continue to work with updated credentials.

Developer Productivity: Developers can focus on application logic instead of credential management complexity.

AWS Secrets Manager provides a comprehensive solution for managing sensitive information throughout its lifecycle, helping organizations maintain security while reducing the operational burden of credential management across their applications and services.