Starting the server

With Vault installed, the next step is to start a Vault server.

Vault operates as a client-server application. The Vault server is the only piece of the Vault architecture that interacts with the data storage and backends. All operations done via the Vault CLI interact with the server over a TLS connection.

In this tutorial, you will start and interact with the Vault server running in development mode.

Starting the Dev Server

1. Use the -help flag to list available command options for vault server.

   $ vault server -help

   Scroll down to the Dev Options section.

   Dev Options:-dev      Enable development mode. In this mode, Vault runs in-memory and starts      unsealed. As the name implies, do not run "dev" mode in production. The      default is false.-dev-listen-address=<string>      Address to bind to in "dev" mode. The default is 127.0.0.1:8200. This      can also be specified via the VAULT_DEV_LISTEN_ADDRESS environment      variable.-dev-no-store-token      Do not persist the dev root token to the token helper (usually the local      filesystem) for use in future requests. The token will only be displayed      in the command output. The default is false.-dev-root-token-id=<string>      Initial root token. This only applies when running in "dev" mode.      This can also be specified via the VAULT_DEV_ROOT_TOKEN_ID environment      variable.-dev-tls      Enable TLS development mode. In this mode, Vault runs in-memory and      starts unsealed, with a generated TLS CA, certificate and key. As the      name implies, do not run "dev-tls" mode in production. The default is      false.-dev-tls-cert-dir=<string>      Directory where generated TLS files are created if `-dev-tls` is      specified. If left unset, files are generated in a temporary directory.

   TLS option

   If you are running Vault 1.12.0 or later, you can enable TLS with a dev server using the -dev-tls flag.

2. Start a Vault server in development mode (dev server). The dev server is a built-in, pre-configured server that is not very secure but useful for playing with Vault locally. Later in the Deploy Vault tutorial, you will configure and start a non-dev server.

   $ vault server -dev

   Example output:

   ==> Vault server configuration:            Api Address: http://127.0.0.1:8200                     Cgo: disabled         Cluster Address: https://127.0.0.1:8201            Go Version: go1.19.1            Listener 1: tcp (addr: "127.0.0.1:8200", cluster address: "127.0.0.1:8201", max_request_duration: "1m30s", max_request_size: "33554432", tls: "disabled")               Log Level: info                  Mlock: supported: false, enabled: false         Recovery Mode: false               Storage: inmem               Version: Vault v1.13.0-dev1, built 2022-09-26T14:39:49Z            Version Sha: 2a7c3f2f76e6fd6a7f8622ea68d82bcf9dcf9686==> Vault server started! Log data will stream in below:# ...snip...WARNING! dev mode is enabled! In this mode, Vault runs entirely in-memoryand starts unsealed with a single unseal key. The root token is alreadyauthenticated to the CLI, so you can immediately begin using Vault.You may need to set the following environment variables:   $ export VAULT_ADDR='http://127.0.0.1:8200'The unseal key and root token are displayed below in case you want toseal/unseal the Vault or re-authenticate.Unseal Key: PLV0OXO9VmF5VB8qAnq4pQIGzWkzzYypRNcDtrhSSgU=Root Token: hvs.6j4cuewowBGit65rheNoceI7Development mode should NOT be used in production installations!

   You should see output similar to that above. Notice that Unseal Key and Root Token values are displayed.

   The dev server stores all its data in-memory (but still encrypted), listens on localhost without TLS, and automatically unseals and shows you the unseal key and root access key.

   Insecure operation

   Do not run a Vault dev server in production. This approach is only used here to simplify the unsealing process for this demonstration.

Set environment variables

1. Launch a new terminal session.

2. Copy and run the export VAULT_ADDR ... command from the terminal output. This will configure the Vault client to talk to the dev server.

   $ export VAULT_ADDR='http://127.0.0.1:8200'

   Vault CLI determines which Vault servers to send requests using the VAULT_ADDR environment variable.

3. Save the unseal key somewhere. Don't worry about how to save this securely. For now, just save it anywhere.

4. Set the VAULT_TOKEN environment variable value to the generated Root Token value displayed in the terminal output.

   Example:

   $ export VAULT_TOKEN="hvs.6j4cuewowBGit65rheNoceI7"

   To interact with Vault, you must provide a valid token. Setting this environment variable is a way to provide the token to Vault via CLI. Later, in the Authentication tutorial, you will learn to use the vault login <token_value> command to authenticate with Vault.

$ vault server -dev-tls

==> Vault server configuration:             Api Address: https://127.0.0.1:8200                     Cgo: disabled         Cluster Address: https://127.0.0.1:8201              Go Version: go1.19.1              Listener 1: tcp (addr: "127.0.0.1:8200", cluster address: "127.0.0.1:8201", max_request_duration: "1m30s", max_request_size: "33554432", tls: "enabled")               Log Level: info                   Mlock: supported: false, enabled: false           Recovery Mode: false                 Storage: inmem                 Version: Vault v1.13.0-dev1, built 2022-09-26T14:39:49Z             Version Sha: 2a7c3f2f76e6fd6a7f8622ea68d82bcf9dcf9686==> Vault server started! Log data will stream in below:#...snip...WARNING! dev mode is enabled! In this mode, Vault runs entirely in-memoryand starts unsealed with a single unseal key. The root token is alreadyauthenticated to the CLI, so you can immediately begin using Vault.You may need to set the following environment variables:    $ export VAULT_ADDR='https://127.0.0.1:8200'    $ export VAULT_CACERT='/var/folders/bz/nvj1yk7j411frmff3198l8_c0000gp/T/vault-tls1123544318/vault-ca.pem'The unseal key and root token are displayed below in case you want toseal/unseal the Vault or re-authenticate.Unseal Key: Lylgnqrv+0W6ZO8gzhbnqsaOXcx9Mlgqxxlv641nwZ0=Root Token: hvs.kvlITyyikUb8bPwqS1Nfjx7fDevelopment mode should NOT be used in production installations!

$ export VAULT_ADDR='https://127.0.0.1:8200'

$ export VAULT_CACERT='/var/folders/bz/nvj1yk7j411frmff3198l8_c0000gp/T/vault-tls1123544318/vault-ca.pem'

$ export VAULT_TOKEN="hvs.kvlITyyikUb8bPwqS1Nfjx7f"

Verify the Server is Running

Verify the server is running by running the vault status command. If it ran successfully, the output should look like the following:

$ vault status Key             Value---             -----Seal Type       shamirInitialized     trueSealed          falseTotal Shares    1Threshold       1Version         1.11.3Build Date      2022-08-26T10:27:10ZStorage Type    inmemCluster Name    vault-cluster-2b0b44fdCluster ID      a6f87c32-fe6a-6647-0d22-e814d125a5c4HA Enabled      false

If the output looks different, restart the dev server and try again. The only reason these would ever be different is if you're running a dev server from going through this tutorial previously.

You will learn more about the status output in the Deploy Vault tutorial.

Next

Congratulations! You've started your first Vault server.

You can continue with the Your First Secret tutorial, where you will learn how to store secrets in Vault.