Managing Sensitive Data Using Docker Secrets

docker manage secrets
04 December 2024

Managing Sensitive Data Using Docker Secrets

Managing sensitive data in modern applications is extremely important. In today’s world, data security is a fundamental principle, and every developer must think about protecting their sensitive data. Docker, as a popular platform for developing and deploying applications, provides capabilities that can assist you in managing this type of data.

One of these capabilities is Docker Secrets. Docker Secrets allows you to manage sensitive information such as passwords, API keys, and any other sensitive data seamlessly within container management environments. By doing this, you can securely store your data in Docker and avoid unauthorized access.

Using Docker Secrets is very simple. This feature allows you to create your sensitive information and then grant access to different Docker services. By utilizing Docker Compose, you can easily configure your services and keep your sensitive data securely inside your own containers.

Now let’s look at a practical example of using Docker Secrets. We will examine a scenario where we want to build a simple web application and manage the database password securely. Below, the necessary steps and example codes are provided for reference.

# Create a secret
echo "my_secret_password" | docker secret create db_password -

# Using the secret in Docker Compose version: '3.7'
services:
db:
image: mysql:latest
deploy:
replicas: 1
secrets:
- db_password
web:
image: my_web_app:latest
deploy:
replicas: 1
secrets:
- db_password
secrets:
db_password:
external: true

Code Explanation


Code 1: echo "my_secret_password" | docker secret create db_password -
This line creates a secret named db_password, which is our database password. The variable is sent securely via a command passed to Docker.

Code 2: Docker Compose Example
version: '3.7'
This line specifies the Compose version.

services:
This line declares the services in Docker Compose.

Service db:
image: mysql:latest
This line will pull the MySQL database image.

deploy:
This line specifies the deployment configurations of the service.

replicas: 1
This sets the number of database replicas.

secrets:
This line indicates which secrets should be added to this service.

- db_password
This line tells the db service to have access to the secret db_password.

Service web:
Similar configurations are done for the web service, allowing us to manage the database properly.

FAQ

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How can I create a new Secret in Docker?

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Can I use Secrets in Docker Compose?

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How can I use a Secret in different services?

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Are Docker Secrets secure?