What does running a Vault instance essentially consist of?

Running a Vault instance fundamentally involves having a core system that manages secrets securely, alongside its necessary components. This includes storage backends, which are crucial for persisting the secrets and data Vault handles; authentication/identity backends, which facilitate user authentication and enable access controls; audit backends, which are used for logging all requests to Vault for accountability and security auditing; and secret backends, which are responsible for managing the different types of secrets Vault may handle, such as database credentials or API keys.

Each of these components plays a vital role in ensuring that the Vault can effectively secure, store, and manage sensitive information while providing the necessary access controls and logging mechanisms. This comprehensive setup allows Vault to operate as a robust secret management solution, thus making it essential for a Vault instance to include all these backends to function correctly and securely.