# OpenStack Barbican External Secrets Operator integrates with [OpenStack Barbican](https://docs.openstack.org/barbican/latest/) for secret management. Barbican is OpenStack's Key Manager service that provides secure storage, provisioning and management of secret data. This includes keys, passwords, certificates, and other sensitive data. The Barbican provider for External Secrets Operator allows you to retrieve secrets stored in Barbican and synchronize them with Kubernetes secrets. ## Authentication The Barbican provider uses OpenStack Keystone authentication. You need to provide: - **AuthURL**: The OpenStack Keystone authentication endpoint - **TenantName**: The OpenStack tenant/project name - **DomainName**: The OpenStack domain name (optional) - **Region**: The OpenStack region (optional) - **Username**: OpenStack username (stored in a Kubernetes secret) - **Password**: OpenStack password (stored in a Kubernetes secret) ## Example First, create a secret containing your OpenStack credentials: ```yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: Secret metadata: name: barbican-secret type: Opaque data: username: bXl1c2VybmFtZQ== # base64 encoded "myusername" password: bXlwYXNzd29yZA== # base64 encoded "mypassword" ``` Then create a SecretStore with the Barbican backend: ```yaml apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1 kind: SecretStore metadata: name: barbican-backend spec: provider: barbican: authURL: "https://keystone.example.com:5000/v3" tenantName: "my-project" domainName: "default" region: "RegionOne" auth: username: secretRef: name: "barbican-secret" key: "username" password: secretRef: name: "barbican-secret" key: "password" ``` **NOTE:** In case of a `ClusterSecretStore`, be sure to provide `namespace` for the `secretRef` with the namespace of the secret that contains the credentials. ## Creating an ExternalSecret Now you can create an ExternalSecret that uses the Barbican provider to retrieve secrets: ```yaml apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1 kind: ExternalSecret metadata: name: barbican-example spec: secretStoreRef: name: barbican-backend kind: SecretStore target: name: example-secret creationPolicy: Owner data: - secretKey: password remoteRef: key: "my-secret-uuid" ``` The `remoteRef.key` should be the UUID of the secret in Barbican. You can find this by listing secrets in Barbican: ```bash openstack secret list ``` ## Referencing a property within a secret If a Barbican secret stores a JSON object as its payload, you can select a single top-level key with `remoteRef.property`: ```yaml apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1 kind: ExternalSecret metadata: name: barbican-property spec: secretStoreRef: name: barbican-backend kind: SecretStore target: name: example-secret creationPolicy: Owner data: - secretKey: token remoteRef: key: "my-secret-uuid" property: "token" # selects the "token" key from the JSON payload ``` To expand a whole JSON payload into multiple Kubernetes secret keys at once, use `dataFrom.extract`: ```yaml apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1 kind: ExternalSecret metadata: name: barbican-extract spec: secretStoreRef: name: barbican-backend kind: SecretStore target: name: example-secret creationPolicy: Owner dataFrom: - extract: key: "my-secret-uuid" ``` Both `property` and `extract` require the secret payload to be a JSON object. Without `property`, `remoteRef` returns the raw payload unchanged. ## Finding Secrets by Name You can retrieve secrets with the `find` feature, matching on the secret name. Despite the field being named `regexp`, the value is passed to Barbican's secret listing API as a `name` filter, which performs an exact name match. Regular-expression metacharacters are **not** interpreted, so a value like `^db-.*` matches only a secret literally named `^db-.*`. Provide the exact secret name. ```yaml apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1 kind: ExternalSecret metadata: name: barbican-find-secret spec: secretStoreRef: name: barbican-backend kind: SecretStore target: name: found-secrets creationPolicy: Owner dataFrom: - find: name: regexp: "database" # exact secret name, not a pattern ``` Because Barbican allows several secrets to share a name, this can return more than one secret. The keys of the resulting Kubernetes secret are the Barbican secret UUIDs (not the names), and each value is the corresponding payload. ## ClusterSecretStore For a ClusterSecretStore, you need to specify the namespace where the credentials secret is located: ```yaml apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1 kind: ClusterSecretStore metadata: name: barbican-cluster-backend spec: provider: barbican: authURL: "https://keystone.example.com:5000/v3" tenantName: "my-project" domainName: "default" region: "RegionOne" auth: username: secretRef: name: "barbican-secret" key: "username" namespace: "default" # Required for ClusterSecretStore password: secretRef: name: "barbican-secret" key: "password" namespace: "default" # Required for ClusterSecretStore ``` ## Configuration Reference | Field | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | `authURL` | string | Yes | OpenStack Keystone authentication endpoint URL | | `tenantName` | string | Yes | OpenStack tenant/project name | | `domainName` | string | No | OpenStack domain name | | `region` | string | No | OpenStack region | | `auth` | BarbicanAuth | Yes | Authentication credentials | ### BarbicanAuth The `BarbicanAuth` type contains the authentication information: | Field | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | `username` | BarbicanProviderUsernameRef | Yes | OpenStack username (from secret or literal value) | | `password` | BarbicanProviderPasswordRef | Yes | OpenStack password (from secret only) | ### BarbicanProviderUsernameRef The `BarbicanProviderUsernameRef` type allows you to specify username either as a literal or reference to a Kubernetes secret: | Field | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | `value` | string | No | Literal value (not recommended for sensitive data) | | `secretRef` | SecretKeySelector | No | Reference to a Kubernetes secret | ### BarbicanProviderPasswordRef The `BarbicanProviderPasswordRef` type requires a reference to a Kubernetes secret: | Field | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | `secretRef` | SecretKeySelector | Yes | Reference to a Kubernetes secret | ## Limitations - The Barbican provider is **read-only**. Creating, updating, or deleting secrets is not supported (`PushSecret` and `DeletionPolicy: Delete` will fail). - The credentials used must have access to the secrets being retrieved. - `find` matches the exact secret name only; `find.path` and `find.tags` are not supported. - Barbican secrets are immutable, so `remoteRef.version` is ignored. - Secret metadata is not exposed (`metadataPolicy: Fetch` is not supported); only the payload is returned. ## Troubleshooting ### Authentication Issues If you encounter authentication errors, verify: 1. The `authURL` is correct and accessible 2. The credentials are valid and have appropriate permissions 3. The `tenantName` and `domainName` (if used) are correct 4. Network connectivity to the OpenStack endpoints ### Secret Not Found If a secret cannot be found: 1. Verify the secret UUID exists in Barbican: `openstack secret get -p https://barbican-url/v1/secrets/` 2. Check that the user has permission to access the secret 3. Ensure the secret is in the correct project/tenant ### Network Connectivity Ensure your Kubernetes cluster can reach: - The OpenStack Keystone endpoint (for authentication) - The Barbican service endpoint (for secret retrieval) Check firewall rules and network policies that might block access.