This assumes the following has already been done.

• Hashicorp Vault has been installed
• Hashicorp Vault has been initialized
• Hashicorp Vault has been unsealed

When starting the vault, the initial root token will be displayed, like this.

Initial Root Token: s.gYGVHcHMiGsCZdKAJzWq1Yj1

The vault login command can be used to log into the vault. In this example, the log in will be done as root.

vault login s.gYGVHcHMiGsCZdKAJzWq1Yj1

If you installed the vault CLI on a system different from the system that Hashicorp Vault was installed on, include the -address option where address will be something like http://vault.example.com:8200.

vault login -address <address> s.gYGVHcHMiGsCZdKAJzWq1Yj1

Or by exporting the VAULT_ADDR variable.

export VAULT_ADDR=https://vault.example.com:8201

And the following should be displayed.

Success! You are now authenticated. The token information displayed below
is already stored in the token helper. You do NOT need to run "vault login"
again. Future Vault requests will automatically use this token.

Key                  Value
---                  -----
token                s.gYGVHcHMiGsCZdKAJzWq1Yj1
token_accessor       Z0Q8To48Rkkgx7zka-dqsDjJ
token_duration       ∞
token_renewable      false
token_policies       ["root"]
identity_policies    []
policies             ["root"]

And the vault auth list command should return something like this.

~]$ vault auth list
Path      Type     Accessor               Description                Version
----      ----     --------               -----------                -------
token/    token    auth_token_5013c38c    token based credentials    n/a

If you enabled approle and have created a role ID and secret ID, you can then login to the vault using the approle role ID and secret ID.

~]$ vault write auth/approle/login role_id=76390ed2-e61c-9ef3-a438-0a2b736330bc secret_id=1b7cfc8c-c11c-73b1-dc22-1326ff6604ed
Key                     Value
---                     -----
token                   hvs.CAESIOeRP8HgRmd5ljtProEbLlPspAlyov0LFTTequUKdnhFGh4KHGh2cy5teHhjRlI3ejlhdVVBUHpSTkpRcVpDRGU
token_accessor          N1aLX6Jol2IZsUcUOquXbJNj
token_duration          20m
token_renewable         true
token_policies          ["default"]
identity_policies       []
policies                ["default"]
token_meta_role_name    my-role