PostgreSQL/CockroachDB

Learn how to automatically rotate PostgreSQL/CockroachDB user passwords.

The Infisical Postgres secret rotation allows you to automatically rotate your Postgres database user’s password at a predefined interval.

Prerequisite

1. Create two users with the required permission in your PostgreSQL instance. We’ll refer to them as user-a and user-b.
2. Create another PostgreSQL user with just the permission to update the passwords of user-a and user-b. We’ll refer to this user as the admin user.

To learn more about Postgres permission system, please visit this documentation.

How it works

1. Infisical connects to your database using the provided admin user account.
2. A random value is generated and the password for user-a is updated with the new value.
3. The new password is then tested by logging into the database
4. If test is success, it’s saved to the output secret mappings so that rest of the system gets the newly rotated value(s).
5. The process is then repeated for user-b on the next rotation.
6. The cycle repeats until secret rotation is deleted/stopped.

Rotation Configuration

1. Open Secret Rotation Page

   Head over to Secret Rotation configuration page of your project by clicking on Secret Rotation in the left side bar

2. Click on PostgresSQL card
3. Provide the inputs

   Admin Username · string · required

   Rotator admin username

   Admin password · string · required

   Rotator admin password

   Host · string · required

   Database host url

   Port · number · required

   Database port number

   Username1 · string · required

   The first username of two to rotate - user-a

   Username2 · string · required

   The second username of two to rotate - user-b

   CA · string

   Optional database certificate to connect with database

4. Configure the output secret mapping

   When a secret rotation is successful, the updated values needs to be saved to an existing key(s) in your project.

   Environment · string · required

   The environment where the rotated credentials should be mapped to.

   Secret Path · string · required

   The secret path where the rotated credentials should be mapped to.

   Interval · number · required

   What interval should the credentials be rotated in days.

   DB USERNAME · string · required

   Select an existing secret key where the rotated database username value should be saved to.

   DB PASSWORD · string · required

   Select an existing select key where the rotated database password value should be saved to.

FAQ

Why can't we delete the other user when rotating?

When a system has multiple nodes by horizontal scaling, redeployment doesn’t happen instantly.

This means that when the secrets are rotated, and the redeployment is triggered, the existing system will still be using the old credentials until the change rolls out.

To avoid causing failure for them, the old credentials are not removed. Instead, in the next rotation, the previous user’s credentials are updated.

Why do you need root user account?

The admin account is used by Infisical to update the credentials for user-a and user-b.

You don’t need to grant all permission for your admin account but rather just the permissions to update both of the user’s passwords.

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