Starting the server

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

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.

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.

1. 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: go1.21.4
            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 v1.0.0-dev1, built 2023-11-12T14:39:49Z
            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-memory
and starts unsealed with a single unseal key. The root token is already
authenticated 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 to
seal/unseal the Vault or re-authenticate.

Unseal Key: PLV0OXO9VmF5VB8qAnq4pQIGzWkzzYypRNcDtrhSSgU=
Root Token: hvs.6j4cuewowBGit65rheNoceI7

Development mode should NOT be used in production installations!

You should see an 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.

Development server with TLS enabled

If you wish to run a Vault dev server with TLS enabled, use the -dev-tls flag instead of -dev.

$ vault server -dev-tls

Example output:

==> Vault server configuration:

             Api Address: https://127.0.0.1:8200
                     Cgo: disabled
         Cluster Address: https://127.0.0.1:8201
              Go Version: go1.21.4
              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 v1.0.0-dev1, built 2023-11-12T14:39:49Z
             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-memory
and starts unsealed with a single unseal key. The root token is already
authenticated 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 to
seal/unseal the Vault or re-authenticate.

Unseal Key: Lylgnqrv+0W6ZO8gzhbnqsaOXcx9Mlgqxxlv641nwZ0=
Root Token: hvs.kvlITyyikUb8bPwqS1Nfjx7f

Development mode should NOT be used in production installations!

The VAULT_ADDR is set to use HTTPS protocol.

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

Set the TLS certificate location with VAULT_CACERT.

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

Set the VAULT_TOKEN.

$ 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       shamir
Initialized     true
Sealed          false
Total Shares    1
Threshold       1
Version         1.0.0
Build Date      2023-11-12T10:27:10Z
Storage Type    inmem
Cluster Name    vault-cluster-2b0b44fd
Cluster ID      a6f87c32-fe6a-6647-0d22-e814d125a5c4
HA 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.

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.