Vault Token Expired Prematurely Before Validity Period Ends

Resolve the issue of nodes getting stuck at the "Generate certs" phase after reboot in Platform9 Kubernetes. Learn how to renew the Vault Token, troubleshoot, and update configurations to get your clu

Problem

• Nodes in a cluster were getting stuck after a reboot at the Generate certs nodeletd phase.

  $ /opt/pf9/nodelet/nodeletd phases status
  ...
    INDEX NUMBER  FILE                                         NAME    PHASE STATUS
    1             Generate certs / Send signing request to CA  failed
    2             Prepare configuration
    3             Configure Container Runtime
    4             Start Container Runtime
    5             Network configuration
    6             Configure CNI plugin
    7             Miscellaneous scripts and checks
    8             Configure and start kubelet
    9             Configure and start kube-proxy
    10            Wait for k8s services and network to be up
    11            Apply and validate node taints
    12            Apply kubelet configuration
    13            Uncordon node
    14            Drain all pods (stop only operation)
    15            Configure and start monitoring
  Platform9 Kubernetes stack is not running

• The Certificate Signing Request for the needed certificates is failing due to a permission denied error.

  $ cat /tmp/authbs-certs.***/admin/request.json
  {"errors":["permission denied"]}

Environment

• Platform9 Managed Kubernetes - v5.7 and Higher
• Platform9 Self Managed Cloud Platform - v5.9 and Higher
• Vault

Cause

• The Vault Token of the Cluster got expired.
• This is a known issue, and a BUG has been reported with ID PMK-6602 to track and resolve it.

Info

Vault Token: This token is issued to each workload cluster by the pf9-vault service that operates on the management plane. It is utilized by the pf9-nodeletd service running on nodes to request certificates from the Management Plane.

Validation

Warning

Kindly ensure to document each step as it is executed. This will help maintain a clear and comprehensive record of the process.

• For PMK (SaaS), the platform9 support team will apply the steps below. Please open a Support Ticket.
• For SMCP (air-gapped), perform the steps below from the management plane cluster.

Steps to validate the token expiry:

1. Exec into pf9-vault pod in Management Plane namespace.

   $ kubectl exec -it -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> $(kubectl get pods -n $NS -l du-app=pf9-vault -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") -- /bin/bash

2. Export the required details.

   Vault Pod

   $ export VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT credential_value FROM qbert_secrets where credential_name='root_token'")
   
   $ export VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200
   
   $ CLUSTER_UUID=<CLUSTER_UUID>
   
   $ OLD_VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT vaultToken FROM clusters WHERE uuid='$CLUSTER_UUID'")
   
   $ ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT credential_value FROM qbert_secrets where credential_name='root_token'")
   
   $ CLUSTER_VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT vaultToken FROM clusters WHERE uuid='$CLUSTER_UUID'")

3. Run the below command to know token expiry details:

   # /usr/local/bin/vault token lookup $CLUSTER_VAULT_TOKEN

   Example:

   $  /usr/local/bin/vault token lookup $CLUSTER_VAULT_TOKEN
   Key                 Value
   ---                 -----
   accessor            [ACCESSOR-ID]
   creation_time       [CREATION TIMESTAMP]
   creation_ttl        26280h
   display_name        token
   entity_id           n/a
   expire_time         [EXPIRY TIMESTAMP]
   explicit_max_ttl    0s
   id                  [ID]
   issue_time          [ISSUE TIMESTAMP]
   meta                <nil>
   num_uses            0
   orphan              false
   path                auth/token/create
   policies            [POLICIES]
   renewable           true
   ttl                 26215h49m50s
   type                service

Resolution

• Fix will be available in future versions of PCD.

Workaround

To fix this issue, renew the Vault Token for the problematic cluster and update all hosts with the new Token.

Warning

Kindly ensure to document each step as it is executed. This will help maintain a clear and comprehensive record of the process.

• For PMK (SaaS), the platform9 support team will apply the steps below. Please open a Support Ticket.
• For SMCP (air-gapped), perform the steps below from the management plane cluster.

Step 1: Exec into pf9-vault pod in Management Plane namespace.

$ kubectl exec -it -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> $(kubectl get pods -n $NS -l du-app=pf9-vault -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") -- /bin/bash

Step 2: Export the required details.

Vault Pod

$ CLUSTER_UUID=<CLUSTER_UUID>

$ OLD_VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT vaultToken FROM clusters WHERE uuid='$CLUSTER_UUID'")

$ ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT credential_value FROM qbert_secrets where redential_name='root_token'")

$ echo $OLD_VAULT_TOKEN

$ echo $ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN

Step 3: Generate New Token.

Vault Pod

$ NEW_TOKEN_RESP=$(curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token: $ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN" --data '{"policies": ["'$CLUSTER_UUID'"], "ttl": "26280h"}' http://localhost:8200/v1/auth/token/create)

$ NEW_TOKEN=$(echo $NEW_TOKEN_RESP | jq -r '.auth.client_token')

$ echo "New Vault-Token generated - $NEW_TOKEN"

Step 4: Update the new token in qbert Database and exit from pf9-vault pod.

Vault Pod

$ mysql qbert -e "UPDATE clusters SET vaultToken='$NEW_TOKEN' WHERE uuid='$CLUSTER_UUID'"

$ exit

Step 5: Verify if the new token is updated at the cluster and node levels.

$ kubectl -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> exec -it --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> deploy/mysqld-exporter -- mysql qbert -e "select name,uuid,vaultToken from clusters where uuid='<Cluster_UUID>'"

$ kubectl -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> exec -it --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> deploy/sunpike-kube-apiserver -c sunpike-kube-apiserver -- kubectl get hosts <Host ID> -o yaml | grep -i vault

Step 6: If the token in Sunpike does not match the token in Qbert, execute the following command to patch the Sunpike host object.

$ export NEW_TOKEN=<NEW_TOKEN_GENERATED_IN_STEP_3>
$ export CLUSTER_UUID=<CLUSTER_UUID>

$ for i in $(kubectl -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> exec -it --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> deploy/sunpike-kube-apiserver -c sunpike-kube-apiserver -- kubectl get hosts --no-headers | grep $CLUSTER_UUID | awk '{print $1}'); do kubectl -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> exec -it --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> deploy/sunpike-kube-apiserver -c sunpike-kube-apiserver -- kubectl patch host $i -p '{"spec":{"pf9":{"vaultToken":"'${NEW_TOKEN}'"}}}'; done

Step 7: Perform full stack restart on nodes that got stuck at the Cert Generation phase (if any).

$ systemctl stop pf9-{hostagent, nodeletd}
$ /opt/pf9/nodelet/nodeletd phases stop
$ systemctl start pf9-hostagent

Step 8: Revoke the old Token only if all nodes are working fine. (Optional)

$ kubectl exec -it -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> --kubeconfig <KUBECONFIG> $(kubectl get pods -n <MANAGEMENT_PLANE_NAMESPACE> -l du-app=pf9-vault -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") -- /bin/bash

[vault_pod]# ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN=$(mysql qbert -Bse "SELECT credential_value FROM qbert_secrets where credential_name='root_token'")
[vault_pod]# OLD_VAULT_TOKEN=<OLD_VAULT_TOKEN_FROM_STEP_2>

[vault_pod]# curl -X POST -H "X-Vault-Token: $ROOT_VAULT_TOKEN" --data '{"token": "'$OLD_VAULT_TOKEN'"}' http://localhost:8200/v1/auth/token/revoke