Final answer:
Azure Key Vault is a cloud service that allows you to securely store and manage cryptographic keys, secrets, and certificates. Its core features include credential management, key management, and secret management.
Step-by-step explanation:
Azure Key Vault is a cloud service provided by Microsoft Azure that allows you to securely store and manage cryptographic keys, secrets, and certificates used by your applications. It offers several core features including:
- Credential management: Key Vault can securely store credentials such as usernames and passwords, allowing applications to retrieve them without the need to store them directly in the code.
- Key management: Key Vault can generate and manage cryptographic keys that are used for data encryption and decryption. It provides options for key creation, rotation, and versioning.
- Secret management: Key Vault can securely store and manage secrets, such as connection strings, API keys, and passwords. Secrets can be accessed programmatically or through Azure portal or Azure CLI.