Which APIs do clients use to renew leases in Vault?

Clients use the built-in renew APIs to renew leases in Vault for several reasons. The built-in renew APIs are specifically designed to handle lease renewals efficiently and securely, allowing clients to extend the validity of their authentication tokens or secrets before they expire. This is essential for maintaining session continuity and access to resources protected by Vault.

The built-in renew APIs provide a standard mechanism that clients can leverage without needing to develop custom solutions or scripts. This standardization ensures that all clients can interact with Vault in a predictable manner, simplifying integration and reducing the likelihood of errors.

Using these APIs also means that clients benefit from the robust security and reliability features inherent to Vault's design. Vault tightly controls the permissions around the renewal process, ensuring that only authorized clients can renew their leases, which adds an extra layer of protection to sensitive data.

In contrast, external APIs, custom scripts, and third-party plugins do not offer the same level of support and integration as the built-in renew APIs. They may require additional development and maintenance, leading to potential inconsistencies and security risks. Thus, the built-in renew APIs are the recommended and most straightforward approach for lease renewal in HashiCorp Vault.