Azure Key Vault Configuration And Implementation Using .NET Core 7 Web API

In this article, we are going to discuss Azure Key Vault introduction, configuration, and step-by-step implementation using .NET Core 7 Web API.

Agenda

• Introduction
• Implementation
• Azure Key Vault Setup

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022
• Azure Account
• .NET Core 7

Introduction

• Azure Key Vault manages and stores data securely like passwords, certificates, and other credentials.
• It provides centralized storage in which we can manage our all credentials.

Fig - Key Vault Diagram from Microsoft Documentation

• There are many scenarios in which we store our sensitive information like database connection strings and passwords inside our codebase but that may cause in the future because sometimes wrong people can access it.
• Key Vault provides centralized storage and also, and we can monitor and keep track of access and usage of our secrets.

Implementation

Step 1

Create a new .NET Core Web API

Step 2

Configure application

Step 3

Provide additional information

Step 4

Install the following NuGet Package

Step 5

Create some environmental variables inside the app settings JSON file

{
    "Logging": {
        "LogLevel": {
            "Default": "Information",
            "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
        }
    },
    "AllowedHosts": "*",
    "KeyVaultConfiguration": {
        "KeyVaultURL": "",
        "ClientId": "",
        "ClientSecret": ""
    }
}

Step 6

Next, register a service inside the Program class

using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.AzureKeyVault;
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
// Add services to the container.
builder.Host.ConfigureAppConfiguration((context, config) => {
    var settings = config.Build();
    var keyVaultURL = settings["KeyVaultConfiguration:KeyVaultURL"];
    var keyVaultClientId = settings["KeyVaultConfiguration:ClientId"];
    var keyVaultClientSecret = settings["KeyVaultConfiguration:ClientSecret"];
    config.AddAzureKeyVault(keyVaultURL, keyVaultClientId, keyVaultClientSecret, new DefaultKeyVaultSecretManager());
});
builder.Services.AddControllers();
// Learn more about configuring Swagger/OpenAPI at https://aka.ms/aspnetcore/swashbuckle
builder.Services.AddEndpointsApiExplorer();
builder.Services.AddSwaggerGen();
var app = builder.Build();
// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment()) {
    app.UseSwagger();
    app.UseSwaggerUI();
}
app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseAuthorization();
app.MapControllers();
app.Run();

Step 7

Create a secrets controller just for demo purposes to access a list of secrets we will create

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
namespace AzureKeyVaultDemo.Controllers {
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    [ApiController]
    public class SecretsController: ControllerBase {
        private readonly IConfiguration _configuration;
        public SecretsController(IConfiguration configuration) {
                _configuration = configuration;
            }
            [HttpGet]
        public List < string > Get() {
            List < string > result = new List < string > () {
                _configuration["DatabaseConnectionString"],
                    _configuration["RedisCache"]
            };
            return result;
        }
    }
}

Azure Key Vault Setup

Step 1

Open Azure Portal

Step 2

Search Azure Key Vault and click on create

Step 3

Next, add some secrets and their values

Step 4

Search App registration and click on new registrations

Step 5

Provide additional information

Step 6

Click on certificates and secrets

Step 7

Add client secrets and permissions

Note: copy and save the above client secret value (bcV***) because after closing this tab you are not able to see that.

Step 8

Add client secret, key vault URL, and client Id inside app settings JSON file

Step 9

Build and run the application

Step 10

Here we can see Swagger UI, which allows us to access our API endpoints.

GitHub Link

https://github.com/Jaydeep-007/AzureKeyVaultDemo

Conclusion

Here we discussed azure key vault introduction, configuration, and step-by-step implementation using .NET Core Web API.

Happy Coding!