Storing arbitrary secrets

Creating arbitrary secrets in the UI

To add an arbitrary secret by using the Secrets Manager UI, complete the following steps.

1. In the console, click the Menu icon > Resource List.

2. From the list of services, select your instance of Secrets Manager.

3. In the Secrets table, click Add.

4. From the list of secret types, click the Other secret type tile.

5. Click Next.

6. Add a name and description to easily identify your secret.

7. Select the secret groupThe environment and constraints that contained secrets in an instance must adhere to. A user can be associated with a secret group to enable access and collaboration. that you want to assign to the secret.

   Don't have a secret group? In the Secret group field, you can click Create to provide a name and a description for a new group. Your secret is added to the new group automatically. For more information about secret groups, check out Organizing your secrets.

8. Optional: Add labels to help you to search for similar secrets in your instance.

9. Optional: Add metadata to your secret or to a specific version of your secret.

   1. Upload a file or enter the metadata and the version metadata in JSON format.

10. Click Next.

11. Select a file or enter the secret value that you want to associate with the secret.

Secrets Manager supports text-based payloads only for arbitrary secrets. If you select a file to assign to an arbitrary secret, the service uses base64 encoding to store the data in your instance. To access this secret later, you need to base64 decode it. Consider assigning a label on your secret with encoded data, such as encode:base64, so that you can track secrets that require base64 decoding.

12. Optional: Enable expiration to control the lifespan of the secret.
    1. To set an expiration date for the secret, switch the expiration toggle to Yes.
13. Click Next.
14. Review the details of your secret.
15. Click Add.

Creating arbitrary secrets from the CLI

Before you begin, follow the CLI docs to set your API endpoint.

To create an arbitrary secret by using the Secrets Manager CLI plug-in, run the ibmcloud secrets-manager secret-create command. You can specify the type of secret by using the --secret-type arbitrary option. For example, the following command creates an arbitrary secret and stores secret-data as its value.

Secrets Manager supports text-based payloads only for arbitrary secrets. If you need to upload a binary file, you must base64 encode the data first so that you can pass it to the Secrets Manager CLI in a single-line string. To access this secret later in its original form, you need to base64 decode it. Consider assigning a label on your secret with encoded data, such as encode:base64, so that you can track secrets that require base64 decoding.

ibmcloud secrets-manager secret-create \    
    --secret-prototype='{"custom_metadata": {"anyKey": "anyValue"}, "description": "Description of my arbitrary secret.", "expiration_date": "2023-10-05T11:49:42Z", "labels": ["dev","us-south"], "name": "example-arbitrary-secret", "secret_group_id": "default", "secret_type": "arbitrary", "payload": "secret-data", "version_custom_metadata": {"anyKey": "anyValue"}}'

The command outputs the ID value of the secret, along with other metadata. For more information about the command options, see ibmcloud secrets-manager secret-create.

Creating arbitrary secrets with the API

You can create arbitrary secrets programmatically by calling the Secrets Manager API.

The following example shows a query that you can use to create and store an arbitrary secret. When you call the API, replace the ID variables and IAM token with the values that are specific to your Secrets Manager instance.

You can store metadata that are relevant to the needs of your organization with the custom_metadata and version_custom_metadata request parameters. Values of the version_custom_metadata are returned only for the versions of a secret. The custom metadata of your secret is stored as all other metadata, for up to 50 versions, and you must not include confidential data.

Secrets Manager supports text-based payloads only for arbitrary secrets. If you need to upload a binary file, you must base64 encode the data first so that you can pass it to the Secrets Manager API in a single-line string. To access this secret later in its original form, you need to base64 decode it. Consider assigning a label on your secret with encoded data, such as encode:base64, so that you can track secrets that require base64 decoding.

curl -X POST 
    -H "Authorization: Bearer {iam_token}" \
    -H "Accept: application/json" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
          "custom_metadata": {
            "metadata_custom_key": "metadata_custom_value"
          },
          "description": "Description of my arbitrary secret.",
          "expiration_date": "2023-10-05T11:49:42Z",
          "labels": [
            "dev",
            "us-south"
          ],
          "name": "example-arbitrary-secret",
          "payload": "secret-data",
          "secret_group_id": "67d025e1-0248-418f-83ba-deb0ebfb9b4a",
          "secret_type": "arbitrary",
          "version_custom_metadata": {
          "custom_version_key": "custom_version_value"} }' \ 
      "https://{instance_ID}.{region}.secrets-manager.appdomain.cloud/api/v2/secrets"

A successful response returns the ID value of the secret, along with other metadata. For more information about the required and optional request parameters, check out the API reference.

Creating arbitrary secrets with Terraform

You can create arbitrary secrets programmatically by using Terraform for Secrets Manager.

Follow Terraform best practices for protecting sensitive input variables such as secret credentials. For more information, see Protect sensitive input variables.

The following example shows a configuration that you can use to create an arbitrary secret by setting sensitive values in a terraform.tfvars file.

1. Define an input variable for the arbitrary secret payload in a variables.tf file.

   	variable "arbitrary_secret_payload" {
   		description = "Arbitrary secret payload"
   		type        = string
   		sensitive   = true
   	}
   

2. Assign a value to the arbitrary_secret_payload variable in a terraform.tfvars file.

   By setting values with a .tfvars file, you can separate sensitive values from the rest of your variable values, and ensure that your users who work with your configuration know which values are sensitive. For security purposes, you must maintain and share the .tfvars file only with your users who have the appropriate access. You must also be careful not to store .tfvars files with sensitive values into version control such as Github, in clear text.

   arbitrary_secret_payload = "my sensitive arbitrary payload"
   

3. Create the arbitrary secret in the main.tf file.

   resource "ibm_sm_arbitrary_secret" "sm_arbitrary_secret" {
   	instance_id = local.instance_id
   	region = local.region
   	description = "Extended description for this arbitrary secret"
   	labels = [ "tf-resource"]
   	name = "test-arbitrary-secret"
   	secret_group_id = ibm_sm_secret_group.sm_secret_group_test.secret_group_id
   	payload = var.arbitrary_secret_payload
   }