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HashiCorp Vault Associate Study Guide

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Section 1 Authentication methods Preview

Preview: Authentication methods

Preview includes
  • 4 of 6 lesson topics
  • 1 overview segment
  • 3 core concepts
  • 2 exam tips

Lesson Topics

  • 1a Define the purpose of authentication methods
  • 1b Choose an authentication method based on use case
  • 1c Explain the difference between human and system authentication methods
  • 1d Define the purpose of identities and groups

Overview

Vault auth methods verify a human or workload identity and ultimately issue a Vault token. The token—not the login credential—is then presented on later Vault requests and carries the authorization policies used by Vault.

Core Concepts

  • Auth methods are plugins enabled at mount paths such as auth/approle/, auth/kubernetes/, or a custom path. Multiple instances of the same auth method can be enabled at different paths with independent configuration.
  • Authentication answers 'who is this client?'; policies answer 'what may this token do?' Do not confuse the auth method with authorization policy.
  • All external auth methods ultimately map successful authentication to Vault tokens. Token auth is built in and cannot be disabled.

Exam Tips

  • Flow: identity/credential -> auth method -> Vault token -> policies -> request authorization.
  • Mount path is configuration scope, not the secret path being accessed.
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Section 2 Vault policies Pro
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Section 3 Vault tokens Pro
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Section 4 Vault leases Pro
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Section 5 Secrets engines Pro
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Section 6 Encryption as a Service Pro
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Section 7 Vault architecture fundamentals Pro
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Section 8 Vault deployment architecture Pro
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Section 9 Access management architecture Pro
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