Hi @VJ3,
OAuth Secrets vs Personal Access Tokens
OAuth secrets and personal access tokens are similar in that they both serve as authentication credentials for service principals. However, OAuth secrets are used specifically for OAuth machine-to-machine (M2M) authentication, while personal access tokens are used for workspace-level API access.
OAuth Secret Expiration and Rotation
OAuth secrets can expire after a configurable lifetime, up to a maximum of 1 year. It's recommended to rotate secrets regularly, such as every 30-90 days, to limit exposure if a secret is compromised. To generate a new OAuth secret, go to the service principal's settings page in the Azure Databricks workspace and click "Generate secret". The secret will only be displayed once during creation, so securely store it.
Secure Storage of OAuth Secrets
It's critical to store OAuth secrets securely. Azure Key Vault is an excellent option to encrypt and manage secrets. Alternatively, environment variables or a secure configuration file can be used. Never store OAuth secrets in plaintext in source code or configuration files like .databrickscfg
. Only authorized users should have access to the secure storage location.
OAuth Authentication Workflow
For OAuth M2M authentication, the service principal uses the OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow. The service principal authenticates by presenting its client ID and client secret (OAuth secret) to the token endpoint. This differs from the implicit grant flow used for OAuth user-to-machine (U2M) authentication with Azure Databricks users.
In summary, use the following best practices when using OAuth secrets with service principals:
- Rotate secrets regularly
- Store secrets securely in Azure Key Vault or equivalent
- Never store secrets in plaintext
- Restrict access to secret storage
- Use the client credentials flow for OAuth M2M authentication
Proper management of OAuth secrets is critical to authenticate service principals to Azure Databricks securely.
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask! ๐