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This document provides information on configuring Futurex KMES’s with Ansible Vault by using Futurex PKCS #11 libraries. For additional questions related to your KMES, see the KMES Series 3 user guide.

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About Ansible Vault

Ansible is an open-source IT automation tool developed by Red Hat. It automates various IT tasks, such as configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and task automation. Ansible Vault is a feature of Ansible that enables you to encrypt sensitive data, such as passwords or keys, in encrypted files instead of plaintext.

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Ansible Vault key features

  • Encrypt entire files (YAML, vars, inventories)
  • Encrypt individual variables using encrypt_string
  • Support for multiple vault IDs/keys (e.g., dev vs prod)
  • Secure file operations: edit, view, rekey
  • CLI automation support (—vault-password-file)
  • Avoids leaving decrypted data on disk (when used carefully)
  • AES256 encryption by default
  • Fully integrated with Ansible playbooks/workflows

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Using KMES Series 3 to protect Ansible private keys

Ansible Vault can work with private keys stored on Key Management Enterprise Server Series 3 (KMES Series 3) which helps to prevent the disclosure of the keys and enables the secure usage of private keys to perform various functions. With this integration, you can securely reference your private key stored in an KMES Series 3 to perform automated encryption and decryption tasks with Ansible Playbooks with the Futurex PKCS #11 library, pkcs11-provider by Latchset, and OpenSSL.