Currently, the ZChains is concerned with keeping 2 major runtime secrets:
The validator private key used by the node, if the node is a validator
The networking private key used by libp2p, for participating and communicating with other peers
For additional information, please read through the Managing Private Keys Guide
The modules of the ZChains should not need to know how to keep secrets. Ultimately, a module should not care if a secret is stored on a far-away server or locally on the node's disk.
Everything a module needs to know about secret-keeping is knowing to use the secret, knowing which secrets to get or save. The finer implementation details of these operations are delegated away to the SecretsManager, which of course is an abstraction.
The node operator that's starting the ZChains can now specify which secrets manager they want to use, and as soon as the correct secrets manager is instantiated, the modules deal with the secrets through the mentioned interface - without caring if the secrets are stored on a disk or on a server.
This article details the necessary steps to get the ZChains up and running with a Hashicorp Vault server.
:::info previous guides It is highly recommended that before going through this article, articles on Local Setup and Cloud Setup are read. :::
This article assumes that a functioning instance of the Hashicorp Vault server is already set up.
Additionally, it is required that the Hashicorp Vault server being used for the ZChains should have enabled KV storage.
Required information before continuing:
The server URL (the API URL of the Hashicorp Vault server)
Token (access token used for access to the KV storage engine)
In order for the ZChains to be able to seamlessly communicate with the Vault server, it needs to parse an already generated config file, which contains all the necessary information for secret storage on Vault.
To generate the configuration, run the following command:
Parameters present:
PATH is the path to which the configuration file should be exported to. Default ./secretsManagerConfig.json
TOKEN is the access token previously mentioned in the prerequisites section
SERVER_URL is the URL of the API for the Vault server, also mentioned in the prerequisites section
NODE_NAME is the name of the current node for which the Vault configuration is being set up as. It can be an arbitrary value. Default polygon-edge-node
:::caution Node names Be careful when specifying node names.
The ZChains uses the specified node name to keep track of the secrets it generates and uses on the Vault instance. Specifying an existing node name can have consequences of data being overwritten on the Vault server.
Secrets are stored on the following base path: secrets/node_name :::
Now that the configuration file is present, we can initialize the required secret keys with the configuration file set up in step 1, using the --config:
The PATH param is the location of the previously generated secrets manager param from step 1.
The genesis file should be generated in a similar manner to the Local Setup and Cloud Setup guides, with minor changes.
Since Hashicorp Vault is being used instead of the local file system, validator addresses should be added through the --ibft-validator flag:
Now that the keys are set up, and the genesis file is generated, the final step to this process would be starting the Polygon Edge with the server command.
The server command is used in the same manner as in the previously mentioned guides, with a minor addition - the --secrets-config flag:
The PATH param is the location of the previously generated secrets manager param from step 1.