Manage secrets for AWS App2Container

App2Container uses AWS Secrets Manager to manage the credentials necessary to connect your worker machine to application servers and run remote commands. Secrets Manager encrypts your secrets for storage and provides an Amazon Resource Name (ARN) so that you can access the secret. When you run the remote configure command, you provide the secret ARN that App2Container uses to connect to your target server when you run the remote command.

For more information about Secrets Manager, see What Is AWS Secrets Manager? For information specifically related to costs, see Pricing for AWS Secrets Manager in the AWS Secrets Manager User Guide.

Create remote access secrets

The secret that App2Container uses to connect to an application server varies with the application server's operating system (OS) platform. To create a remote access secret for your application server, choose the tab that matches your OS platform.

Linux

For Linux, you can store either the SSH private key or the Certificate and SSH private key in Secrets Manager. To create a secret in Secrets Manager so that you can access your application server remotely, follow the steps shown in the Create a secret page in the AWS Secrets Manager User Guide. Provide the information that App2Container needs to run remote commands as follows.

Step 1 Choose secret type

• Secret type – To store a key that App2Container uses programmatically, through API calls, choose the Other type of secrets option.

• Specify the following Key/value pairs to store in the secret. To add the next key/value pair, choose + Add row.

  Username key

  • Key name (box 1): username

  • Key value (box 2): Enter the plaintext username value to use with SSH.

  SSH private key

  • Key name (box 1): key

  • Key value (box 2): Copy the base64-encoded string that represents your private key file into the second box.

    Note

    To base64-encode your key file, you can use the following command, where .ssh/id_rsa is the private key that encodes the file:

    $ base64 .ssh/id_rsa

  SSH Certificate key (optional)

  • Key name (box 1): cert

  • Key value (box 2): Copy the base64-encoded string that represents your signed certificate file into the second box.

    Note

    To base64-encode your signed certificate file, you can use the following command, where .ssh/id_rsa-cert.pub is the private key that encodes the file:

    $ base64 .ssh/id_rsa-cert.pub

Step 2 Configure secret

• Enter a name for your secret in the Secret name box. You can also enter optional information to help identify your secret, such as Description, or you can enter tags in the Tags panel.

Windows

For Windows application servers, you can store the Username and Password for remote access. In most cases, the username and password translates to a set of credentials for a domain user with access to the application servers. Create a secret page in the AWS Secrets Manager User Guide

Step 1 Choose secret type

• Secret type – To store a key that App2Container uses programmatically, through API calls, choose the Other type of secrets option.

• Specify the following Key/value pairs to store in the secret. To add the next key/value pair, choose + Add row.

  Username key

  • Key name (box 1): username

  • Key value (box 2): In the second box, enter the plaintext username value to use with the connection credentials for your application server.

  Password key

  • Key name (box 1): password

  • Key value (box 2): In the second box, enter the password value.

Step 2 Configure secret

• Enter a name for your secret in the Secret name box. You can also enter optional information to help identify your secret, such as Description, or you can enter tags in the Tags panel.

Create secrets for Jenkins pipelines

Integration with Jenkins requires secure authentication, both for the Git repository that Jenkins uses for automated container build pipelines, and for authentication to the Jenkins server itself. For secure authentication, App2Container uses Secrets Manager to store credentials, and provide access to the authentication secrets to Jenkins agent nodes.

Authentication secret for Git

App2Container uses SSH to authenticate to the Git source repository that the Jenkins agent uses to update your pipeline. In the pipeline.json file, you provide the ARN from the authentication secret you create, in the sshKeyArn parameter value.

To create a secret in Secrets Manager so that App2Container can authenticate to the Git repository for the Jenkins agent, follow the steps shown in the Create a secret page in the AWS Secrets Manager User Guide. Provide the information that App2Container needs to authenticate to the Git source repository as follows.

Step 1 Choose secret type

• Secret type – To store a key that App2Container uses programmatically, through API calls, choose the Other type of secrets option.

• Specify the following Key/value pairs to store in the secret. To add the next key/value pair, choose + Add row.

  Username key

  • Key name (box 1): username

  • Key value (box 2): In the second box, enter the plaintext username value that App2Container uses with SSH to authenticate to the Git source repository for Jenkins.

  Username key

  • Key name (box 1): key

  • Key value (box 2): In the second box, copy the base64-encoded string that represents your private key file.

    Note

    To base64-encode your key file, you can use the following command, where .ssh/id_rsa is the private key that encodes the file:

    $ base64 .ssh/id_rsa

Step 2 Configure secret

• Enter a name for your secret in the Secret name box. You can also enter optional information to help identify your secret, such as Description, or you can enter tags in the Tags panel.

Authentication secret for Jenkins server

Just as App2Container needs credentials to interact with AWS services on your behalf, so it also needs credentials to interact with the Jenkins server that runs your pipelines. In the pipeline.json file, you provide the ARN from the authentication secret you create, in the apiTokenArn parameter value.

Generate a Jenkins authentication token

Before you store your Jenkins authentication secrets in Secrets Manager, generate an API token from your Jenkins server. To generate a Jenkins API authentication token, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Jenkins server.

2. In the upper right corner of the interface, choose your name.

3. From the left side navigation menu, choose Configure .

4. In the API Token panel, choose Add new Token.

5. After Jenkins generates the token, give it a name. Keep track of the name. You will need it for the secret key you enter in Secrets Manager.

6. Choose the copy icon to copy the token value, or select and copy the value manually. You will need it for the secret value that you enter in Secrets Manager You can't see the value again after you log out of Jenkins.

   Note

   Ensure that you revoke tokens that you no longer need.

Store your Jenkins authentication token in Secrets Manager

To create a secret in Secrets Manager for the Jenkins authentication token, follow the steps shown in the Create a secret page in the AWS Secrets Manager User Guide. Provide the information that App2Container needs to authenticate to the Jenkins server that runs your pipelines as follows.

Step 1 Choose secret type

• Secret type – To store a key that App2Container uses programmatically, through API calls, choose the Other type of secrets option.

• Specify the following Key/value pairs to store in the secret. To add the next key/value pair, choose + Add row.

  Username key

  • Key name (box 1): username

  • Key value (box 2): In the second box, enter the plaintext username value so that App2Container can log in to the Jenkins server.

  Username key

  • Key name (box 1): key

  • Key value (box 2): In the second box, copy the base64-encoded string that represents your Jenkins authentication token.

    Note

    To base64-encode a string, you can use the following command:

    $ echo string-to-encode | base64

Step 2 Configure secret

• Enter a name for your secret in the Secret name box. You can also enter optional information to help identify your secret, such as Description, or you can enter tags in the Tags panel.

Create secrets for Microsoft Azure DevOps pipelines

To integrate with Azure Repos Git repositories and Azure DevOps pipelines, App2Container uses secure authentication. App2Container authenticates with a Microsoft Azure Personal Access Token (PAT) that you store as a secret in Secrets Manager.

In the apiTokenArn parameter value of the pipeline.json file, provide the ARN from the authentication secret that you create.

Generate a Microsoft Azure Personal Access Token (PAT)

Before you generate a Personal Access Token (PAT), you first must have an active Microsoft Azure account, with an organization and project already defined. For more information about how to set up Azure DevOps, see Prerequisites.

To generate a PAT for your Microsoft Azure account, sign in to your Azure organization and create a new token with a Custom defined scope. For instructions, see Create a PAT in the Azure DevOps Services documentation on the Microsoft documentation website. Choose the settings for your custom scope as follows.

• Agent Pools: Read and manage

• Build: Read and execute

• Code: Full

• Extensions: Read and manage

• Release: Read, write, execute, and manage

• Service Connections: Read and query

Note

If you don't see all of the settings, choose Show all scopes to show the complete list.

Store your PAT in Secrets Manager

To create a secret in Secrets Manager for the PAT, follow the procedure on the Create a secret page in the AWS Secrets Manager User Guide. To access the Azure Repos Git repository, and Azure DevOps, provide the information that App2Container needs to authenticate to Microsoft Azure, as follows.

Step 1 Choose secret type

• Secret type – To store a key that App2Container uses programmatically, through API calls, choose the Other type of secrets option.

• Specify the following Key/value pair to store in the secret.

  PAT key

  • Key name (box 1): azure-personal-access-token

  • Key value (box 2): Paste a copy of the token string that the Azure DevOps service generated.

Step 2 Configure secret

• Enter a name for your secret in the Secret name box. You can also enter optional information to help identify your secret, such as Description, or you can enter tags in the Tags panel.