renew_consul_certificates

This repository is only a mirror. Development and testing is done on a private gitea server.

This role install consul-template and configure a service to automate renewal of TLS certificates for Hashicorp Consul on debian-based distributions.

Requirements

This role assume that you already have installed a consul server on the host, and is only here to assist in automating the certificate renewal process.

Role Variables

Available variables are listed below, along with default values. A sample file for the default values is available in default/renew_consul_certificates.yml.sample in case you need it for any group_vars or host_vars configuration.

renew_consul_certificates_config_dir: /etc/consul-template.d/consul # by default, set to /etc/consul-template.d/consul

This variable defines where the files for the role are stored (consul-template configuration + templates).

renew_consul_certificates_consul_user: consul # by default, set to consul

This variable defines the user that'll be running the certificate renewal service. Defaults to consul, and should be present on the host prior to playing this role (ideally when installing consul).

renew_consul_certificates_consul_group: consul # by default, set to consul

This variable defines the group that'll be running the certificate renewal service. Defaults to consul, and should be present on the host prior to playing this role (ideally when installing consul).

renew_consul_certificates_service_env_variables:
  consul_http_addr: http://127.0.0.1:8500
  # consul_http_token:

This variable sets the environment variables for the consul-certs services (notably the address and token to use for the consul reload command).

renew_consul_certificates_vault_addr: https://vault.example.com # by default, set to https://vault.example.com

This variable defines the address the consul-template service will query to get the new certificates. Defaults to localhost, but can be changed if vault isnt reachable on localhost.

renew_consul_certificates_vault_token: mysupersecretvaulttokenthatyoushouldchange # by default, set to a dummy string

This variable defines the vault token top use to access vault and renew the certificate. Default is a dummy string to pass unit tests.

renew_consul_certificates_vault_token_unwrap: false # by default, set to false

Defines whether or not the token is wrapped and should be unwrapped (this is an enterprise-only feature of vault at the moment).

renew_consul_certificates_vault_token_renew: true # by default, set to true

This variable defines whether or not to renew the vault token. It should probably be true, and you should have a periodic token to handle this.

renew_consul_certificates_ca_dest: /opt/consul/tls/ca.pem # by default, set to /opt/consul/tls/ca.pem

This variable defines where to copy the certificate authority upon renewal. Default to /opt/consul/tls/ca.pem but should be changed depending on where you store the certificate authority.

renew_consul_certificates_cert_dest: /opt/consul/tls/cert.pem # by default, set to /opt/consul/tls/cert.pem

This variable defines where to copy the certificates upon renewal. Default to /opt/consul/tls/cert.pem but should be changed depending on where you store the certificates.

renew_consul_certificates_key_dest: /opt/consul/tls/key.pem # by default, set to /opt/consul/tls/cert.pem

This variable defines where to copy the private keys upon renewal. Default to /opt/consul/tls/key.pem but should be changed depending on where you store the keys.

renew_consul_certificates_info: # by default, set to:
  issuer_path: pki/issue/your-issuer
  common_name: consul01.example.com
  ttl: 90d
  is_server: false
  include_consul_service: false

This variable defines the path on vault to retrieve the certificates, as well as the common name and TTL to use for it. It can also include consul aliases in case you have registered consul services in itself (consul.service.consul). It also handles whether or not to append the server.yourdc.consul SAN, in case you're enforcing hostname checking.

renew_consul_certificates_consul_dc_name: dc1.consul # by default, set to dc1.consul

In case you enforce hostname checking, set this variable to your desired dc and consul domain. This is used to forge the SAN that will be checked by consul to only allow specific nodes to be managers.

renew_consul_certificates_consul_service_name: consul.service.consul # by default, set to consul.service.consul

This variable defines the consul service name in consul. Default is consul.service.consul

renew_consul_certificates_start_service: false

This variable defines whether or not to start the service after creating it. By default, it is only enabled, but not started, in case you're building golden images (in which case you probably don't want a certificate generated during the build process).

Dependencies

ednz_cloud.manage_repositories to configure hashicorp apt repository. ednz_cloud.manage_apt_packages to install consul-template.

Example Playbook

Including an example of how to use your role (for instance, with variables passed in as parameters) is always nice for users too:

# calling the role inside a playbook with either the default or group_vars/host_vars
- hosts: servers
  roles:
    - ednz_cloud.renew_consul_certificates

License

MIT / BSD

Author Information

This role was created by Bertrand Lanson in 2023.