---
layout: docs
page_title: Architecture
description: Learn about the internal architecture of Vault.
---

# Architecture

Vault is a complex system that has many different pieces. To help both users and
developers of Vault build a mental model of how it works, this page documents
the system architecture.

~> **Advanced Topic!** This page covers technical details of Vault. You don't
need to understand these details to effectively use Vault. The details are
documented here for those who wish to learn about them without having to go
spelunking through the source code. However, if you're an operator of Vault, we
recommend learning about the architecture due to the importance of Vault in an
environment.

# High-Level Overview

A very high level overview of Vault looks like this:

[![Architecture Overview](/img/layers.png)](/img/layers.png)

Let's begin to break down this picture. There is a clear separation of
components that are inside or outside of the security barrier. Only the storage
backend and the HTTP API are outside, all other components are inside the
barrier.

The storage backend is untrusted and is used to durably store encrypted data.
When the Vault server is started, it must be provided with a storage backend so
that data is available across restarts. The HTTP API similarly must be started
by the Vault server on start so that clients can interact with it.

When a Vault server is started, it starts in a _sealed_ state. Before any
operation can be performed on the Vault, it must be _unsealed_. This is done by
providing the unseal keys. When the Vault is initialized, it generates an
encryption key which is used to protect all Vault data. This key is protected by
a root key. The root key is stored alongside all other Vault data, but is encrypted by yet another mechanism: the unseal key.
By default, Vault uses [Shamir's Secret
Sharing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing) to split the
unseal key into a configured number of shards (referred as key shares or unseal
keys). A certain threshold of shards is required to reconstruct the unseal key,
which is then used to decrypt the Vault's root key.

![Unseal keys](/img/vault-shamir-seal.png)

Refer to the [Seal/Unseal](/docs/concepts/seal#seal-unseal) documentation for
further details.

The number of shares and the minimum threshold required can both be specified.
Shamir's technique can be disabled, and the root key can be used directly for
unsealing. Once Vault retrieves the encryption key, it is able to decrypt the
data in the storage backend, and enters the _unsealed_ state. Once unsealed,
Vault loads all of the configured audit devices, auth methods, and secrets
engines.

-> The default Vault configuration uses a Shamir seal; however, Vault can be [auto
unseal](/docs/concepts/seal#auto-unseal) by a trusted cloud key management
system (KMS) or hardware security module (HSM) to increase security.

The configuration of those audit devices, auth methods, and secrets engines must
be stored in Vault since they are security sensitive. Only users with the
correct permissions should be able to modify them, meaning they cannot be
specified outside of the barrier. By storing them in Vault, any changes to them
are protected by the ACL system and tracked by audit logs.

After the Vault is unsealed, requests can be processed from the HTTP API to the
Core. The core is used to manage the flow of requests through the system,
enforce ACLs, and ensure audit logging is done.

When a client first connects to Vault, it needs to authenticate. Vault provides
configurable auth methods providing flexibility in the authentication mechanism
used. Human friendly mechanisms such as username/password or GitHub might be
used for operators, while applications may use public/private keys or tokens to
authenticate. An authentication request flows through core and into an auth
method, which determines if the request is valid and returns a list of
associated policies.

Policies are just a named ACL rule. For example, the "root" policy is built-in
and permits access to all resources. You can create any number of named policies
with fine-grained control over paths. Vault operates exclusively in a allowed-access
mode, meaning that unless access is explicitly granted via a policy, the action
is not allowed. Since a user may have multiple policies associated, an action is
allowed if any policy permits it. Policies are stored and managed by an internal
policy store. This internal store is manipulated through the system backend,
which is always mounted at `sys/`.

Once authentication takes place and an auth method provides a set of applicable
policies, a new client token is generated and managed by the token store. This
client token is sent back to the client, and is used to make future requests.
This is similar to a cookie sent by a website after a user logs in. The client
token may have a lease associated with it depending on the auth method
configuration. This means the client token may need to be periodically renewed
to avoid invalidation.

Once authenticated, requests are made providing the client token. The token is
used to verify the client is authorized and to load the relevant policies. The
policies are used to authorize the client request. The request is then routed to
the secrets engine, which is processed depending on its type. If the secrets
engine returns a secret, the core registers it with the expiration manager and
attaches a lease ID. The lease ID is used by clients to renew or revoke their
secret. If a client allows the lease to expire, the expiration manager
automatically revokes the secret.

The core handles logging of requests and responses to the audit broker, which
fans the request out to all the configured audit devices. Outside of the request
flow, the core performs certain background activity. Lease management is
critical, as it allows expired client tokens or secrets to be revoked
automatically. Additionally, Vault handles certain partial failure cases by
using write ahead logging with a rollback manager. This is managed transparently
within the core and is not user visible.

# Getting in Depth

This has been a brief high-level overview of the architecture of Vault. There
are more details available for each of the sub-systems.

For other details, either consult the code or reach out to the
mailing list.
