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Rotating an AWS Secrets Manager secret changes the secret and its corresponding credential at the backend; it does not automatically replace values already loaded by a running Go process. To avoid restarting the service, pair AWS rotation with an application-side refresh mechanism, then validate the new configuration and update dependent clients such as database pools. AWS’s Go cache offers periodic refresh; Mamori documents a watch-and-reconcile approach with change callbacks.
What “rotation without restart” requires
There are two separate changes to coordinate: AWS updates the secret and the credential accepted by the database or service, and your Go process retrieves the new value and applies it to its consumers. AWS supports managed rotation for selected services, managed external rotation for supported partners, and Lambda-based rotation for other secret types. See AWS’s rotation guidance.
A process that fetched a secret at startup will keep using its local value until its code retrieves a replacement. Even after retrieval, existing database connections or other client objects may still use the old credential. Your service therefore needs both a refresh mechanism and a safe way to reconfigure the dependent resource.
Choose how the Go service refreshes the secret
The right mechanism depends on how much control you need over refresh timing and how the application can reconfigure its consumers. These options retrieve or surface updated values; none by itself guarantees that a database pool or other existing client adopts them.
#1 Best Overall
| Approach | Refresh behavior | Implementation and API trade-offs | Consumer update |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct AWS SDK retrieval | Your application decides when to call GetSecretValue or BatchGetSecretValue. |
Offers explicit control, but you must build scheduling, retries, and any local caching. More frequent retrieval can increase API calls and latency. AWS generally recommends client-side caching. See the Go SDK retrieval guide. | Your refresh code must validate the returned value and update or replace dependent resources. |
| AWS Go caching component | Uses a local cache with a configurable refresh interval; the documented default is one hour. This is the cache’s default refresh interval, not an AWS rotation interval. | Reduces repeated retrieval calls, but freshness is governed by the configured interval. AWS states, “The cache implementation does not include cache invalidation.” See the Go caching documentation. | The application still needs to notice refreshed values and reconfigure consumers appropriately. |
Mamori Watch |
Mamori documents an aws-sm:// source and typed Watch API with snapshots and change callbacks. |
Provides an application-facing watch/reconciliation path, but requires provider setup and callback logic in your service. Mamori documents that a backend rotation can be picked up without restarting; this is vendor-documented behavior, not independent performance evidence. See its quick start and introduction. | Use the callback to validate the candidate configuration and apply it to consumers; the callback does not itself establish how a particular pool or client changes credentials. |
Set up rotation and access first
- Configure rotation for the secret. Use the AWS rotation option appropriate to the secret type: managed rotation for supported services, managed external rotation for supported partners, or a Lambda rotation function for other cases. Rotation must update the backend credential as well as the stored secret.
- Grant the Go workload narrowly scoped access. AWS lists
secretsmanager:DescribeSecretandsecretsmanager:GetSecretValueas required permissions for its Go caching component. Apply least privilege to the specific secret resources the workload needs; consult the cache documentation and AWS IAM guidance. - Load and validate the current value. Parse the secret into an application configuration type and verify required fields before making it available to consumers.
- Choose a refresh mechanism. Use direct SDK retrieval when refresh timing must be orchestrated explicitly, the AWS cache when periodic local refresh fits, or a watch callback when the service needs to react to configuration changes. Set refresh timing to suit the rotation window and the application’s tolerance for stale credentials.
- Reconcile dependent resources. Create or reconfigure the database pool, API client, or other dependent object using the candidate configuration. Publish the new configuration only after it is valid and the replacement resource is ready.
- Retain a recovery path. Handle transient Secrets Manager and downstream connection errors without discarding a working configuration prematurely. Log refresh outcomes without logging secret values.
Apply a change without disrupting consumers
A refresh should be treated as a configuration transition, not a simple assignment to a shared string or struct. A safer pattern is to construct and validate a candidate, prepare a replacement consumer, then make the new consumer available while retiring the old one in a controlled way. The exact mechanism depends on the library and service architecture; the AWS and Mamori documentation establishes secret retrieval and watching, not the behavior of any particular Go database pool.
- Validate before switching: reject malformed or incomplete secret data before it reaches request handlers.
- Prepare before publishing: where practical, establish the replacement pool or client and verify it can authenticate before routing new work to it.
- Retire deliberately: drain or close old connections according to the client library’s lifecycle rules rather than assuming that updating configuration changes already-open connections.
- Handle failed refreshes: preserve the last known-good consumer when safe, record an operational error, and retry according to a bounded policy. Do not silently treat an invalid candidate as a successful update.
Account for the rotation window
A refresh interval is not the same thing as the rotation schedule. With a periodic cache, a newly rotated value may not be observed until the next refresh; AWS documents a one-hour default for its Go caching component, which can be configured. Direct retrieval and watch-based workflows have different timing and error characteristics, so plan around the mechanism actually used by the process.
Rank #2
AWS notes that applications can retrieve the previous credential during managed rotation, and describes alternating database users as a strategy for high availability. The service should be able to tolerate the transition: validate credentials, retry transient authentication failures appropriately, and avoid assuming that every connection changes at the instant the secret changes. See AWS managed rotation guidance.
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Best Value
Operational and security considerations
- Cache exposure: AWS says its Go cache is not security hardened. Assess the risk of secret material residing in process memory for your deployment and protect the runtime accordingly.
- Least privilege: grant only the secret access and actions the workload requires; avoid broad Secrets Manager permissions.
- Observability: track refresh success, failure, and age of the last accepted configuration without placing secret contents in logs or metrics.
- Consumer-specific behavior: determine how each database driver or client handles credential changes, connection reuse, and pool replacement. Secret retrieval alone cannot answer those questions.
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