Certificates as Kubernetes Secrets


Sometimes you need to store an SSL certificate as a Kubernetes secret. This document walks through an example of how to secure a third-party S3-compatible objectstore for use with Portworx.

Create the secret

  1. Copy your certificate to the location where the kubectl is configured for this Kubernetes cluster. Copy the objectstore.pem file to the /opt/certs folder.

  2. Create the secret:

    kubectl -n kube-system create secret generic objectstore-cert --from-file=/opt/certs/
  3. Confirm that the secret was created correctly:

    kubectl -n kube-system describe secret objectstore-cert

Provide the secret to Portworx

Based on your Portworx installation type, provide the secret to Portworx by performing the steps in one of the following sections.

Portworx Operator

Update the Portworx StorageCluster to mount the secret and the environment variable:

  kubectl -n kube-system edit storagecluster portworx
  spec:
    volumes:
    - name: objectstore-cert
      mountPath: /etc/pwx/objectstore-cert
      secret:
        secretName: objectstore-cert
        items:
        - key: objectstore.pem
          path: objectstore.pem
    env:
    - name: "AWS_CA_BUNDLE"
      value: "/etc/pwx/objectstore-cert/objectstore.pem"

After saving the modified StorageCluster, Portworx will restart in a rolling update.

Portworx DaemonSet

Update the Portworx DaemonSet to mount the secret and the environment variable:

kubectl -n kube-system edit ds portworx

The volumeMounts: section in the DaemonSet will have:

volumeMounts:
  - mountPath: /etc/pwx/objectstore-cert
    name: objectstore-cert

The volumes: section in the DaemonSet will have:

volumes:
  - name: objectstore-cert
    secret:
      secretName: objectstore-cert
      items:
      - key: objectstore.pem
        path: objectstore.pem

The env: section in the DaemonSet will have:

env:
  - name: "AWS_CA_BUNDLE"
    value: "/etc/pwx/objectstore-cert/objectstore.pem"

After saving the modified DaemonSet, Portworx will restart in a rolling update.



Last edited: Tuesday, May 9, 2023