Why should I use Azure Key Vault or AWS Secrets Manager instead of .env files?

To integrate secrets into your environment, you typically use something like the external-secrets Operator that syncs secrets directly from the vault to your cluster. This way, only the Operator needs access to the vault, not the application itself. AWS and Azure offer options like federated identity to make this easier without needing client secrets.

Think of these vault systems as a password manager but for applications. Just like you would use a password manager to keep track of your passwords securely, these services help manage system credentials safely. Other tools like Hashicorp Vault or Doppler can also be quite useful!

Using a key vault allows you to handle credentials easily at runtime. You can store your secret in the vault and pass it directly as an environment variable or let your service request it, streamlining access while maintaining security.

Basically, you should avoid keeping your Azure or AWS secrets in .env files. If you do store them there, make sure they never get committed to version control. By using a key vault, you gain a unique log of who accessed what secret and when, which isn't possible with a simple .env file. Plus, it simplifies the process of rotating secrets!

You should steer clear of .env files for sensitive credentials. For AWS, just use the instance's attached role to fetch secrets without needing static credentials. AWS Secrets Manager can also directly connect secrets with various services, like automatically handling secret rotations for RDS, which is a big plus!