Advanсed Configuration

Standalone Gateway

Suggest Edits

The structure of the Gateway installation command when using environment variables should be the following:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ENV_VARIABLE_1="value1" -e ENV_VARIABLE_2="value2" -v /HOST/PATH/TO/FILE:/GATEWAY/PATH/TO/FILE --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

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Tip

To update an existing Gateway, use the same Admin Access ID and Cluster Name for the new Gateway in order to retrieve the latest settings and data from the previously removed docker instance.

Authentication

To set your Gateway with a default Authentication Methods to control the level of access your Gateway instance will have inside your Akeyless account.

The following Authentication Methods are supported for Docker deployments:

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Tip:

Your Gateway Authentication Method should have permission to create and manage both Secrets & Keys along with Targets items only.

While working with Cloud Service Providers Authentication Methods you can provide a list of allowed users that will be able to log in and manage your Gateway configuration.

Email Authentication

To set your Gateway default authentication based on your email\password which you used to create your Akeyless account:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="email" -e ADMIN_PASSWORD="password" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

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Note:

Using your default account credentials is not recommended for production environments.

API Key Authentication

To set your Gateway default authentication based on API Key provide the relevant Access ID and Access Key using those variables:

ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-access-id" , ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="matching-access-key".

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxx" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="62Hu...xxx....qlg=" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

CSP IAM Authentication

While running your Gateway instance inside your cloud environment, you can use AWS IAM, GCP GCE, or Azure Active Directory, using machine-to-machine authentication between Akeyless and your Cloud Service Provider with a list of allowed users that will be able to manage your Gateway configuration.

Set the ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="access-id" variable with your IAM Authentication Methods Access ID, where you need to set a list of users that will be able to manage your Gateway configuration using ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS variable with any other Authentication Method like SAML or OIDC or an API Key.

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxx" -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="p-yyyyyy" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Certificates Authentication

To set your Gateway default authentication based on Certificates provide the relevant Access ID, Certificate, and Certificate Key using those variables:

ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-access-id" , ADMIN_CERTIFICATE="Certificate base64 encoded" and ADMIN_CERTIFICATE_KEY="Certificate Key base64".

With a list of users that will be able to manage your Gateway configuration using ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS variable with any other Authentication Method like SAML or OIDC or an API Key.

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxx" -e ADMIN_CERTIFICATE="base64-cert" -e ADMIN_CERTIFICATE_KEY="base64-cert-key" -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="p-yyyyyy" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Alternatively, you can mount the certificate and key directly into the docker image:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxx"  -v $PWD/key.pem:/root/akeyless-admin-cert.key -v $PWD/cert.crt:/root/.akeyless/akeyless-admin-cert.crt -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="p-yyyyyy" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Gateway Admins

To support local management of your Gateway configuration, you can set a list of allowed Access ID that will be able to log in and manage your Gateway. This setting can also work with sub-claims (when a shared authentication method is used), for example:

ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS= "p-yyyyyy [email protected],p-yyyyyy [email protected],p-yyyyyy group=Devops"

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxx" -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="p-yyyyyy [email protected],p-yyyyyy [email protected], p-yyyyy group=Devops"  --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-csp-access-id" -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="access-id1,access-id2 subclaim1=subclaimValue1,access-id3 subclaim1=subclaimValue2"  --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base

In this case,p-yyyyyy is your SAML or OIDC Access ID, where a user that matches at least one sub-claim attribute will be authorized to access the Gateway.

In our example, [email protected] and [email protected] will be authorized, and any member of group=Devops will also be authorized.

In addition, you can simply set an API Key Access ID :

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="aws-iam-access-id" -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="api-key-access-id"  --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

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Important

When using ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS to set up access to your Gateway using a shared authentication method, make sure to provide the relevant Sub-Claim defining the exact users that will be able to log in and manage your Gateway.

Otherwise, all users authenticated by your Identity Provider (IDP) can log in to your Gateway with admin privileges and make changes to its configuration.

You may also edit this parameter on your console, by going to the Gateways tab and selecting the desired Gateway. On the right of the screen, you will see the Gateway details, including allowed access IDs. Selecting to edit this parameter will allow you to remove previously added allowed IDs or to allow an existing Authentication Method from your account to access the Gateway with optional Sub-Claims.

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Note

All changes to allowed access IDs, such as editing, removing, and so on, can only be performed on post-deployment allowed access IDs.

Cluster Name & URL

Each Gateway instance is uniquely identified by combining the Admin Access ID Authentication Method and the Cluster Name.

It means that changing the Admin Access ID or the Cluster Name of your Gateway instance will create an entirely new Gateway instance, and it will not retrieve the settings and data from the previous Gateway instance.

That’s why we recommend setting up a meaningful Cluster Name for your Gateway instance from the very beginning. By default, your cluster name is defaultCluster.

To do that, you can set the CLUSTER_NAME="meaningful-cluster-name" variable. In addition, to set in advance the *Cluster URL**, you can set the CLUSTER_URL variable as part of the Gateway Installation command.

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-access-id" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="matching-access-key" -e CLUSTER_NAME="meaningful-cluster-name" -e INITIAL_DISPLAY_NAME="display-name" -e CLUSTER_URL="https://<GW_URL>" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

You can also provide a custom display name for the Gateway Instance using the INITIAL_DISPLAY_NAME variable, but this is arbitrary. This name can be changed in the Akeyless Console after the Gateway is installed.

Encryption Key

While the Secret Encryption section discusses the secrets created when using the Gateway, this section discusses the encryption of the configuration file.
To choose an Encryption Key to encrypt your Gateway configuration, you can choose an existing key using the following variable CONFIG_PROTECTION_KEY_NAME

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxxxxxxx" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="62Hu...xxx....qlg=" -e CONFIG_PROTECTION_KEY_NAME="My-Encryption-Key" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

By default, the Gateway configuration is encrypted with your account's default encryption key.

Customer Fragment

If your Encryption Key works with Zero Knowledge, provide the full path to a local JSON containing your Customer Fragment:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -v {full-path-to}/customer_fragments.json:/root/.akeyless/customer_fragments.json -e CLUSTER_NAME="test-cluster" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxx" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="<YourAccessKey" -e CONFIG_PROTECTION_KEY_NAME="My-Encryption-Key" --name api-gw-test akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Alternatively, you can use the environment variable to pass the customer fragment value using the CUSTOMER_FRAGMENTS variable:

export CUSTOMER_FRAGMENTS=$(cat customer_fragments.json)
docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -e CUSTOMER_FRAGMENTS=$CUSTOMER_FRAGMENTS  -e CLUSTER_NAME="test-cluster" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxx" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="<YourAccessKey" -e CONFIG_PROTECTION_KEY_NAME="My-Encryption-Key" --name api-gw-test akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Version Selection

To work with a specific Gateway version use the VERSION variable to install a specific version of the Akeyless Gateway.

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-access-id" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="matching-access-key" -e VERSION="gw-app-version" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

TLS Configuration

We strongly recommend using Akeyless Gateway with TLS to ensure all traffic is encrypted at transit.
Please note that when you're enabling TLS, you must provide a TLS certificate and a TLS Private Key in PEM format.

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-access-id" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="matching-access-key" -e ENABLE_TLS="true" -e ENABLE_TLS_CONFIGURE="true" -e ENABLE_TLS_CURL="true" -e ENABLE_TLS_HVP="true" -e MIN_TLS_VERSION="TLSv1.2" -v $PWD/cert.crt:/var/akeyless/conf/api-proxy/akeyless-api-cert.crt -v $PWD/key.pem:/var/akeyless/conf/api-proxy/akeyless-api-cert.key --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

In the example above,

  • The ENABLE_TLS variable enables TLS for the Gateway Console.

  • The ENABLE_TLS_CONFIGURE variable enables TLS for the Gateway Configuration Manager.

  • The ENABLE_TLS_HVP variable enables TLS for the HVP service.

  • The ENABLE_TLS_CURL variable enables TLS for the Akeyless API Services.

  • The MIN_TLS_VERSION variable sets the minimum TLS version that will be supported supporting <TLSv1/TLSv1.1/TLSv1.2/TLSv1.3>.

With the following attributes, you can mount the TLS certificate and the TLS Private Key from the Present Working Directory to the Gateway target directory:

  • -v $PWD/cert.crt:/root/.akeyless/akeyless-admin-cert.crt

  • -v $PWD/key.pem:/root/.akeyless/akeyless-admin-cert.key

It is also possible to set up TLS in the Gateway Configuration Manager after the Gateway is installed.

Cache Configuration

You can enable caching of secrets and periodic backup of cached secrets

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxxxxxxxxx" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="62Hu...xxx....qlg=" -e CACHE_ENABLE="true" -e PROACTIVE_CACHE_ENABLE="true" -e CACHE_TTL="60" -e PROACTIVE_CACHE_MINIMUM_FETCHING_TIME="5" -e PROACTIVE_CACHE_DUMP_INTERVAL="1" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="your-access-id" -e ADMIN_ACCESS_KEY="matching-access-key" -e CACHE_ENABLE="true" -e PROACTIVE_CACHE_ENABLE="true" -e CACHE_TTL="number-of-minutes" -e PROACTIVE_CACHE_MINIMUM_FETCHING_TIME="number-of-minutes" -e PROACTIVE_CACHE_DUMP_INTERVAL="number-of-minutes" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base

In the example above,

  • CACHE_TTL variable allows setting the time (in minutes) during which a secret should be kept in the cache.

  • PROACTIVE_CACHE_MINIMUM_FETCHING_TIME variable instructs the system to update secrets in the cache if they are older than the specified value.

  • PROACTIVE_CACHE_DUMP_INTERVAL variable allows setting the time (in minutes) between the two consecutive backups.

It is also possible to configure caching in the Gateway Configuration Manager after the Gateway is installed.

Restrict Gateway Access

To restrict access to Gateway services, you can specify exactly which AccessIDs will be authorized and will be served by the Gateway. For example, if you want to achieve complete segregation using Zero-Knowledge Encryption across different teams or applications, you can also set their AccessIDs to ensure only they will be able to get service from the Gateway that holds their Fragment. To set the list of users the Gateway services will serve, set the RESTRICT_SERVICE_TO_ACCESS_IDS variable with a comma-separated list of AccessIDs

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="aws-iam-access-id" -e ALLOWED_ACCESS_IDS="api-key-access-id" RESTRICT_SERVICE_TO_ACCESS_IDS="comma separated list of access-ids" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

In the above example, in addition to your Gateway admin lists, you are limiting the audience of users that your Gateway will serve. Other AccessIDs will not be able to get service from your Gateway.

Default Secret Encryption

While the Encryption Key section discusses the encryption of the configuration file, this section discusses the secrets created when using the Gateway.
To set a default existing key that will be used to encrypt any secret created through the gateway, add the parameter DEFAULT_ENCRYPTION_KEY in the following way:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e DEFAULT_ENCRYPTION_KEY="existing encryption key name"  --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Default Secret Location

To set a default location to which any secret created through the gateway will be saved in your Akeyless account, add the parameter DEFAULT_SECRET_LOCATION in the following way:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e DEFAULT_SECRET_LOCATION="path to relevant folder" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Setting a Default Login

When using OIDC or SAML authentication to connect to the Gateway's web UI on port 18888, a user would usually be asked to supply an access ID, before being transferred to a login screen. This can also be done from the gateway UI as described in Gateway SAML & OIDC.
When configuring your gateway, you may supply a default value for either OIDC, SAML, or both, using the following parameters:

  • -e DEFAULT_SAML_ACCESS_ID=<SAML Access ID>
  • -e DEFAULT_OIDC_ACCESS_ID=<OIDC Access ID>
    In the following way:
docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e DEFAULT_SAML_ACCESS_ID="p-xxxxx"  --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

To work with CBA flow for users' login , first set your users' DNS records with the cert authentication subdomain auth-cert.akeyless.io to point to your Gateway IP address.

And set your deployment with the following parameters:

  • -e DEFAULT_CERTIFICATE_ACCESS_ID=<Cert Auth Method Access ID>
  • -e ENABLE_SNI_PROXY="true"

In the following way:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ADMIN_ACCESS_ID="aws-iam-access-id" -e DEFAULT_CERTIFICATE_ACCESS_ID="access-id" -e ENABLE_SNI_PROXY="true" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Fixed Artifact Repository

In some environments where an IP address must be whitelisted, to pull Akeyless official artifacts as part of your Gateway deployment, you can pass the ARTIFACTS_REPO="artifacts.site2.akeyless.io" environment variable as part of the docker run command:

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 8200:8200 -p 18888:18888 -p 8080:8080 -p 8081:8081 -p 5696:5696 -e ARTIFACTS_REPO="artifacts.site2.akeyless.io" --name akeyless-gw akeyless/base:latest-akeyless

Updated 6 days ago

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