---
layout: default
title: Secrets
parent: Configuration
nav_order: 6
---
# Secrets
Configuration of Authelia requires some secrets and passwords.
Even if they can be set in the configuration file, the recommended
way to set secrets is to use environment variables as described
below.
## Environment variables
A secret can be configured using an environment variable with the
prefix AUTHELIA_ followed by the path of the option capitalized
and with dots replaced by underscores followed by the suffix _FILE.
The contents of the environment variable must be a path to a file
containing the secret data. This file must be readable by the
user the Authelia daemon is running as.
For instance the LDAP password can be defined in the configuration
at the path **authentication_backend.ldap.password**, so this password
could alternatively be set using the environment variable called
**AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE**.
Here is the list of the environment variables which are considered
secrets and can be defined. Any other option defined using an
environment variable will not be replaced.
|Configuration Key |Environment Variable |
|:----------------------------------:|:------------------------------------------------:|
|jwt_secret |AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET_FILE |
|duo_api.secret_key |AUTHELIA_DUO_API_SECRET_KEY_FILE |
|session.secret |AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET_FILE |
|session.redis.password |AUTHELIA_SESSION_REDIS_PASSWORD_FILE |
|storage.mysql.password |AUTHELIA_STORAGE_MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE |
|storage.postgres.password |AUTHELIA_STORAGE_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE |
|notifier.smtp.password |AUTHELIA_NOTIFIER_SMTP_PASSWORD_FILE |
|authentication_backend.ldap.password|AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE|
## Secrets in configuration file
If for some reason you prefer keeping the secrets in the configuration
file, be sure to apply the right permissions to the file in order to
prevent secret leaks if an another application gets compromised on your
server. The UNIX permissions should probably be something like 600.
## Secrets exposed in an environment variable
**DEPRECATION NOTICE:** This backwards compatibility feature **has been removed** in 4.18.0+.
Prior to implementing file secrets you were able to define the
values of secrets in the environment variables themselves
in plain text instead of referencing a file. **This is no longer available
as an option**, please see the table above for the file based replacements. See
[this article](https://diogomonica.com/2017/03/27/why-you-shouldnt-use-env-variables-for-secret-data/)
for reasons why this was removed.
## Docker
Secrets can be provided in a `docker-compose.yml` either with Docker secrets or
bind mounted secret files, examples of these are provided below.
### Compose with Docker secrets
This example assumes secrets are stored in `/path/to/authelia/secrets/{secretname}`
on the host and are exposed with Docker secrets in a `docker-compose.yml` file:
```yaml
version: '3.8'
networks:
net:
driver: bridge
secrets:
jwt:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/jwt
duo:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/duo
session:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/session
redis:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/redis
mysql:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/mysql
smtp:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/smtp
ldap:
file: /path/to/authelia/secrets/ldap
services:
authelia:
image: authelia/authelia
container_name: authelia
secrets:
- jwt
- duo
- session
- redis
- mysql
- smtp
- ldap
volumes:
- /path/to/authelia:/var/lib/authelia
- /path/to/authelia/configuration.yml:/etc/authelia/configuration.yml:ro
networks:
- net
expose:
- 9091
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
- AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET_FILE=/run/secrets/jwt
- AUTHELIA_DUO_API_SECRET_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/duo
- AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET_FILE=/run/secrets/session
- AUTHELIA_SESSION_REDIS_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/redis
- AUTHELIA_STORAGE_MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/mysql
- AUTHELIA_NOTIFIER_SMTP_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/smtp
- AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/ldap
- TZ=Australia/Melbourne
```
### Compose with bind mounted secret files
This example assumes secrets are stored in `/path/to/authelia/secrets/{secretname}`
on the host and are exposed with bind mounted secret files in a `docker-compose.yml` file
at `/etc/authelia/secrets/`:
```yaml
version: '3.8'
networks:
net:
driver: bridge
services:
authelia:
image: authelia/authelia
container_name: authelia
volumes:
- /path/to/authelia:/var/lib/authelia
- /path/to/authelia/configuration.yml:/etc/authelia/configuration.yml:ro
- /path/to/authelia/secrets:/etc/authelia/secrets
networks:
- net
expose:
- 9091
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
- AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/jwt
- AUTHELIA_DUO_API_SECRET_KEY_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/duo
- AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/session
- AUTHELIA_SESSION_REDIS_PASSWORD_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/redis
- AUTHELIA_STORAGE_MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/mysql
- AUTHELIA_NOTIFIER_SMTP_PASSWORD_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/smtp
- AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE=/etc/authelia/secrets/ldap
- TZ=Australia/Melbourne
```
## Kubernetes
Secrets can be mounted as files using the following sample manifests.
### Kustomization
- **Filename:** ./kustomization.yaml
- **Command:** kubectl apply -k
- **Notes:** this kustomization expects the Authelia configuration.yml in
the same directory. You will need to edit the kustomization.yaml with your
desired secrets after the equal signs. If you change the value before the
equal sign you'll have to adjust the volumes section of the daemonset
template (or deployment template if you're using it).
```yaml
#filename: ./kustomization.yaml
generatorOptions:
disableNameSuffixHash: true
labels:
type: generated
app: authelia
configMapGenerator:
- name: authelia
files:
- configuration.yml
secretGenerator:
- name: authelia
literals:
- jwt_secret=myverysecuresecret
- session_secret=mysessionsecret
- redis_password=myredispassword
- sql_password=mysqlpassword
- ldap_password=myldappassword
- duo_secret=myduosecretkey
- smtp_password=mysmtppassword
```
### DaemonSet
- **Filename:** ./daemonset.yaml
- **Command:** kubectl apply -f ./daemonset.yaml
- **Notes:** assumes Kubernetes API 1.16 or greater
```yaml
#filename: daemonset.yaml
#command: kubectl apply -f daemonset.yaml
#notes: assumes kubernetes api 1.16+
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: DaemonSet
metadata:
name: authelia
labels:
app: authelia
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: authelia
updateStrategy:
type: RollingUpdate
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: authelia
spec:
containers:
- name: authelia
image: authelia/authelia:latest
imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
env:
- name: AUTHELIA_JWT_SECRET_FILE
value: /usr/app/secrets/jwt
- name: AUTHELIA_DUO_API_SECRET_KEY_FILE
value: /usr/app/secrets/duo
- name: AUTHELIA_SESSION_SECRET_FILE
value: /usr/app/secrets/session
- name: AUTHELIA_AUTHENTICATION_BACKEND_LDAP_PASSWORD_FILE
value: /usr/app/secrets/ldap_password
- name: AUTHELIA_NOTIFIER_SMTP_PASSWORD_FILE
value: /usr/app/secrets/smtp_password
- name: AUTHELIA_STORAGE_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE
value: /usr/app/secrets/sql_password
ports:
- name: http
containerPort: 80
startupProbe:
httpGet:
path: /api/configuration
port: http
initialDelaySeconds: 10
timeoutSeconds: 5
periodSeconds: 5
failureThreshold: 4
livenessProbe:
httpGet:
path: /api/configuration
port: http
initialDelaySeconds: 60
timeoutSeconds: 5
periodSeconds: 30
failureThreshold: 2
readinessProbe:
httpGet:
path: /api/configuration
port: http
initialDelaySeconds: 10
timeoutSeconds: 5
periodSeconds: 5
failureThreshold: 5
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /etc/authelia
name: config-volume
- mountPath: /usr/app/secrets
name: secrets
readOnly: true
- mountPath: /etc/localtime
name: localtime
readOnly: true
volumes:
- name: config-volume
configMap:
name: authelia
items:
- key: configuration.yml
path: configuration.yml
- name: secrets
secret:
secretName: authelia
items:
- key: jwt_secret
path: jwt
- key: duo_secret
path: duo
- key: session_secret
path: session
- key: redis_password
path: redis_password
- key: sql_password
path: sql_password
- key: ldap_password
path: ldap_password
- key: smtp_password
path: smtp_password
- name: localtime
hostPath:
path: /etc/localtime
```