Keyvault backup not supported

Question

There is no support from Azure for Azure Key vault backup(existing options are error prone when it comes to automation). There is soft delete and I can reset passwords and put it back in keyvault, in case something goes wrong. So it seems okay still as an alternative to backup I would like to take a screenshot of the Secret Names (not values) and put that image in storage account. Is this safe? The reason why I do this is because it will be easy to recreate the secrets in case key-vault goes down(.5 % chance).

Answer 1

You can definitely use Soft Delete feature as an alternative. Apart from that, in case KeyVault goes down and you want to recreate the secrets, it's easier and safer to setup ARM template and ADO pipeline to achieve your goal with restricted access to the ADO (only people who are part of your organization in ADO can see the pipeline).

The ARM template for Key Vault looks like this:

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "keyVaultName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the name of the key vault."
      }
    },
    "location": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the Azure location where the key vault should be created."
      }
    },
    "enabledForDeployment": {
      "type": "bool",
      "defaultValue": false,
      "allowedValues": [
        true,
        false
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies whether Azure Virtual Machines are permitted to retrieve certificates stored as secrets from the key vault."
      }
    },
    "enabledForDiskEncryption": {
      "type": "bool",
      "defaultValue": false,
      "allowedValues": [
        true,
        false
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies whether Azure Disk Encryption is permitted to retrieve secrets from the vault and unwrap keys."
      }
    },
    "enabledForTemplateDeployment": {
      "type": "bool",
      "defaultValue": false,
      "allowedValues": [
        true,
        false
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies whether Azure Resource Manager is permitted to retrieve secrets from the key vault."
      }
    },
    "tenantId": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "[subscription().tenantId]",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the Azure Active Directory tenant ID that should be used for authenticating requests to the key vault. Get it by using Get-AzSubscription cmdlet."
      }
    },
    "objectId": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the object ID of a user, service principal or security group in the Azure Active Directory tenant for the vault. The object ID must be unique for the list of access policies. Get it by using Get-AzADUser or Get-AzADServicePrincipal cmdlets."
      }
    },
    "keysPermissions": {
      "type": "array",
      "defaultValue": [
        "list"
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the permissions to keys in the vault. Valid values are: all, encrypt, decrypt, wrapKey, unwrapKey, sign, verify, get, list, create, update, import, delete, backup, restore, recover, and purge."
      }
    },
    "secretsPermissions": {
      "type": "array",
      "defaultValue": [
        "list"
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the permissions to secrets in the vault. Valid values are: all, get, list, set, delete, backup, restore, recover, and purge."
      }
    },
    "skuName": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "Standard",
      "allowedValues": [
        "Standard",
        "Premium"
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies whether the key vault is a standard vault or a premium vault."
      }
    },
    "secretName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the name of the secret that you want to create."
      }
    },
    "secretValue": {
      "type": "securestring",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Specifies the value of the secret that you want to create."
      }
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults",
      "name": "[parameters('keyVaultName')]",
      "apiVersion": "2019-09-01",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "properties": {
        "enabledForDeployment": "[parameters('enabledForDeployment')]",
        "enabledForDiskEncryption": "[parameters('enabledForDiskEncryption')]",
        "enabledForTemplateDeployment": "[parameters('enabledForTemplateDeployment')]",
        "tenantId": "[parameters('tenantId')]",
        "accessPolicies": [
          {
            "objectId": "[parameters('objectId')]",
            "tenantId": "[parameters('tenantId')]",
            "permissions": {
              "keys": "[parameters('keysPermissions')]",
              "secrets": "[parameters('secretsPermissions')]"      
            }
          }
        ],
        "sku": {
          "name": "[parameters('skuName')]",
          "family": "A"
        },
        "networkAcls": {
            "defaultAction": "Allow",
            "bypass": "AzureServices"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/secrets",
      "name": "[concat(parameters('keyVaultName'), '/', parameters('secretName'))]",
      "apiVersion": "2019-09-01",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[resourceId('Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults', parameters('keyVaultName'))]"
      ],
      "properties": {
        "value": "[parameters('secretValue')]"
      }
    }
  ]
}

The ADO Release pipeline will look like this:

Example build pipeline for .NET core solution repo:

Then, you can use Azure Resource Group Deployment task in your ADO release pipeline.

Answer 2

Azure Key Vault Backup to another Key Vault using LogicApp

Pre-Requisites

• Enable LogicApp system assigned managed identity.
• Two key vault in same subscription and geography.
• Add LogicApp objectID in key vault access policy with following key and secret permissions,
  1. backup,list(source key vault)
  2. restore(destination key vault)

Limitation

• Source and Destination key vault should be in same subscription and geography.

Steps

• Design
• Step1
  Paste output generated from Step1 in Parse JSON to generate schema
• Step2
• Step3
• Step4

above steps are same for secrets backup

References

• Key Vault REST
• LogicApp Backup/Restore using Storage Account
  azureazure-keyvaultazure-logic-apps