infra/docs/runbooks/restore-vault.md

Restore Vault (Raft)

Last updated: 2026-04-06

Prerequisites

• kubectl access to the cluster
• Vault root token (from vault-root-token secret in vault namespace — manually created, independent of automation)
• Raft snapshot available on NFS at /mnt/main/vault-backup/
• Unseal keys (stored securely — check secret/viktor in Vault or emergency kit)

Backup Location

• NFS: /mnt/main/vault-backup/vault-raft-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db
• Mirrored to sda: /mnt/backup/nfs-mirror/vault-backup/ (PVE host 192.168.1.127)
• Replicated to Synology NAS: Synology/Backup/Viki/pve-backup/nfs-mirror/vault-backup/
• Retention: 30 days (on NFS), latest only (on sda), unlimited (on Synology)
• Schedule: Weekly on Sundays at 02:00 (0 2 * * 0)

CRITICAL: Vault is a dependency for many services

Vault provides secrets to the entire cluster via ESO (External Secrets Operator). A Vault outage affects:

• All ExternalSecrets (43 secrets + 9 DB-creds secrets)
• Vault DB engine password rotation
• K8s credentials engine
• CI/CD secret sync

Priority: Restore Vault before any other service (except etcd).

Restore Procedure

1. Identify the snapshot to restore

# List available snapshots
ls -lt /mnt/main/vault-backup/vault-raft-*.db | head -10

2. Restore Raft snapshot

# Get root token
VAULT_TOKEN=$(kubectl get secret vault-root-token -n vault -o jsonpath='{.data.vault-root-token}' | base64 -d)

# Port-forward to Vault
kubectl port-forward svc/vault-active -n vault 8200:8200 &

# Restore the snapshot (this will overwrite current state)
export VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200
export VAULT_TOKEN
vault operator raft snapshot restore -force /path/to/vault-raft-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db

3. Unseal Vault (if sealed after restore)

Note: Vault now has an auto-unseal sidecar that automatically unseals pods using the vault-unseal-key K8s Secret. The manual procedure below is a fallback if auto-unseal fails.

# Check seal status
vault status

# If sealed, unseal with keys (need threshold number of keys)
vault operator unseal <key1>
vault operator unseal <key2>
vault operator unseal <key3>

4. Verify restoration

# Check Vault health
vault status

# Check raft peers
vault operator raft list-peers

# Verify key secrets exist
vault kv get secret/viktor
vault kv list secret/

# Check DB engine
vault list database/roles

# Check K8s engine
vault list kubernetes/roles

5. Trigger ESO refresh

After Vault restore, ExternalSecrets may need a refresh:

# Restart ESO to force re-sync
kubectl rollout restart deployment -n external-secrets

# Check ExternalSecret status
kubectl get externalsecrets -A | grep -v "SecretSynced"

Alternative: Restore from sda Backup

If TrueNAS NFS is unavailable but the PVE host is accessible:

# 1. SSH to PVE host
ssh root@192.168.1.127

# 2. Find the latest snapshot
ls -lt /mnt/backup/nfs-mirror/vault-backup/

# 3. Copy snapshot to a location accessible from cluster
# Port-forward to Vault and restore
kubectl port-forward svc/vault-active -n vault 8200:8200 &
export VAULT_ADDR=http://127.0.0.1:8200
export VAULT_TOKEN=$(kubectl get secret vault-root-token -n vault -o jsonpath='{.data.vault-root-token}' | base64 -d)

# Copy snapshot from PVE host to local workstation, then restore
scp root@192.168.1.127:/mnt/backup/nfs-mirror/vault-backup/vault-raft-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db ./
vault operator raft snapshot restore -force ./vault-raft-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db

Alternative: Restore from Synology (if PVE host is down)

If both TrueNAS and PVE host are unavailable:

# 1. SSH to Synology NAS
ssh Administrator@192.168.1.13

# 2. Navigate to backup directory
cd /volume1/Backup/Viki/pve-backup/nfs-mirror/vault-backup/

# 3. Copy snapshot to local workstation
scp Administrator@192.168.1.13:/volume1/Backup/Viki/pve-backup/nfs-mirror/vault-backup/vault-raft-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db ./

# 4. Restore via port-forward (same as above)

Full Vault Rebuild (from zero)

If Vault needs to be rebuilt from scratch:

1. Comment out data sources + OIDC config in stacks/vault/main.tf
2. Apply Helm release: scripts/tg apply -target=helm_release.vault stacks/vault
3. Initialize: vault operator init
4. Unseal with generated keys
5. Restore raft snapshot (step 2 above)
6. Populate secret/vault with OIDC credentials
7. Uncomment data sources + OIDC
8. Re-apply: scripts/tg apply stacks/vault

Estimated Time

• Snapshot restore + unseal: ~10 minutes
• Full rebuild: ~30-45 minutes