Ansible Vault

Overview

Ansible Vault is a built-in Ansible feature that lets you encrypt sensitive data, such as passwords, API keys, or certificates, inside your Ansible files. This protects confidential information, even when files are stored in version control or shared with team members. Conceptually, Ansible Vault serves as a lightweight encryption tool embedded in Ansible’s workflow. It allows you to secure variables, playbooks, or entire files without relying on external tools.

How It Works

Ansible Vault employs symmetric encryption (typically AES-256) using a password or key file to encrypt and decrypt data. You create encrypted files with the ansible-vault command-line tool, and Ansible decrypts them automatically during playbook execution when the correct password is provided. This integrates smoothly with Ansible’s inventory, group_vars, and host_vars structures ( Ansible inventory project), simplifying secret management alongside your configuration code.

However, this process is not seamless when using Ansible Automation Platform ( AAP or AWX). In such cases, additional setup is required to handle vault decryption effectively. For guidance on managing secrets in AAP, refer to the following guideline:

• Managing Secrets with Ansible Vault in AAP / AWX

For secure and easy use (without a password prompt each time you run or test a playbook) in an Ansible development environment, there is also a guideline:

• Securely Accessing Ansible Vault in Development

Security and Usability

Ansible Vault is considered secure for most use cases, thanks to its strong encryption standards and active maintenance by the Ansible community. However, like any password-based system, its security hinges on protecting the vault password—avoid storing it in plain text or sharing it insecurely.

Adopting Ansible Vault is low-risk due to its simplicity. It involves no licensing fees, minimal setup, and negligible implementation costs. If your needs change, migrating to advanced solutions like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault is straightforward and won’t disrupt existing workflows.

Additional Information

• Managing Secrets with Ansible Vault in AAP / AWX: Guidance on managing secrets using Ansible Vault in Ansible projects, with a focus on Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) and AWX.
• Securely Accessing Ansible Vault in Development: Guideline for securely accessing Ansible Vault during development without storing passwords in plain files, using environment variables and scripts.
• Ansible Documentation 
  • Ansible Vault