Kubernetes secrets

Question

What is the role of secrets in kubernetes?

Answer 1

A Secret is an object that contains a small amount of sensitive data such as a password, a token, or a key.

Such information might otherwise be put in a Pod specification or in an image; putting it in a Secret object allows for more control over how it is used, and reduces the risk of accidental exposure.

Objects of type secret are intended to hold sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and ssh keys. Putting this information in a secret is safer and more flexible than putting it verbatim in a pod definition or in a docker image.

Users can create secrets, and the system also creates some secrets.

To use a secret, a pod needs to reference the secret. 

A secret can be used with a pod in two ways: as files in a volume mounted on one or more of its containers, or used by kubelet when pulling images for the pod.