6 ca - sample minimal CA application
39 [B<-extensions section>]
44 The B<ca> command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
45 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
46 CRLs it also maintains a text database of issued certificates
49 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
55 =item B<-config filename>
57 specifies the configuration file to use.
61 an input filename containing a single certificate request to be
64 =item B<-ss_cert filename>
66 a single self signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
68 =item B<-spkac filename>
70 a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
71 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<NOTES>
72 section for information on the required format.
76 if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
77 are assumed to the the names of files containing certificate requests.
79 =item B<-out filename>
81 the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
82 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
85 =item B<-outdir directory>
87 the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
88 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
93 the CA certificate file.
95 =item B<-keyfile filename>
97 the private key to sign requests with.
99 =item B<-key password>
101 the password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
102 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
103 the 'ps' utility) this option should be used with caution.
107 the key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
108 see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
112 this prints extra details about the operations being performed.
116 don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
118 =item B<-startdate date>
120 this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
121 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
123 =item B<-enddate date>
125 this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
126 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
130 the number of days to certify the certificate for.
134 the message digest to use. Possible values include md5, sha1 and mdc2.
135 This option also applies to CRLs.
139 this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
140 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
141 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
142 for more information.
146 this is a legacy option to make B<ca> work with very old versions of
147 the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
148 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
149 its use is strongly discouraged. The newer control "Xenroll" does not
154 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
155 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
156 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
157 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
158 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
162 this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
163 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
165 =item B<-extensions section>
167 the section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
168 to be added when a certificate is issued (defaults to B<x509_extensions>
169 unless the B<-extfile> option is used). If no extension section is
170 present then, a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
171 is present (even if it is empty), then a V3 certificate is created.
173 =item B<-extfile file>
175 an additional configuration file to read certificate extensions from
176 (using the default section unless the B<-extensions> option is also
187 this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
189 =item B<-crldays num>
191 the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
192 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
194 =item B<-crlhours num>
196 the number of hours before the next CRL is due.
198 =item B<-revoke filename>
200 a filename containing a certificate to revoke.
204 supersedes subject name given in the request
206 =item B<-crlexts section>
208 the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
209 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
210 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
211 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
212 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
213 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs.
217 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
219 The options for B<ca> are contained in the B<ca> section of the
220 configuration file. Many of these are identical to command line
221 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
222 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
223 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
224 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
231 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
232 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
233 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
234 by white space and finally the long name.
238 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
239 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
240 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
241 and long names are the same when this option is used.
243 =item B<new_certs_dir>
245 the same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
246 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
250 the same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
251 certificate. Mandatory.
255 same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
256 CA private key. Mandatory.
260 a file used to read and write random number seed information, or
261 an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>).
263 =item B<default_days>
265 the same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
268 =item B<default_startdate>
270 the same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
271 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
273 =item B<default_enddate>
275 the same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
276 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
279 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
281 the same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
282 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
283 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
287 the same as the B<-md> option. The message digest to use. Mandatory.
291 the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
292 though initially it will be empty.
296 a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
297 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
299 =item B<x509_extensions>
301 the same as B<-extensions>.
303 =item B<crl_extensions>
305 the same as B<-crlexts>.
309 the same as B<-preserveDN>
313 the same as B<-msie_hack>
317 the same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
318 for more information.
324 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
325 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
326 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
327 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
328 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
329 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
330 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
334 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
335 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
336 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
337 It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility.
339 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
340 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
341 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
342 preceded by a number and a '.'.
346 Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is
347 already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually
348 involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a
349 serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in
350 the relevant directories.
352 To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
353 demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA
354 certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private
355 key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be
356 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
360 Sign a certificate request:
362 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
364 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
366 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
370 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
372 Sign several requests:
374 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
376 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
378 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
380 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
382 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
384 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
388 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>:
391 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
395 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
396 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
397 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
399 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
400 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
401 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
402 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
404 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
405 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
406 default_md = md5 # md to use
408 policy = policy_any # default policy
411 countryName = supplied
412 stateOrProvinceName = optional
413 organizationName = optional
414 organizationalUnitName = optional
415 commonName = supplied
416 emailAddress = optional
420 The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
422 The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
423 in a CA. It was not supposed be be used as a full blown CA itself:
424 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
426 The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is
427 done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command
428 on the same database can have unpredictable results.
432 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
433 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
434 The values below reflect the default values.
436 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
437 ./demoCA - main CA directory
438 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
439 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
440 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
441 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
442 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
443 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
444 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
445 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
447 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
449 B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can
450 be overridden by the B<-config> command line option.
454 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
455 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
456 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
457 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
459 CRL entry extensions cannot currently be created: only CRL extensions
462 V2 CRL features like delta CRL support and CRL numbers are not currently
465 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
466 possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
470 The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
471 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
472 the database has to be kept in memory.
474 Certificate request extensions are ignored: some kind of "policy" should
475 be included to use certain static extensions and certain extensions
478 It is not possible to certify two certificates with the same DN: this
479 is a side effect of how the text database is indexed and it cannot easily
480 be fixed without introducing other problems. Some S/MIME clients can use
481 two certificates with the same DN for separate signing and encryption
484 The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
485 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
486 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and
487 B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much.
489 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
490 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used but
491 the extra fields are not displayed when the user is asked to certify
492 a request. The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable.
494 Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
495 create an empty file.
499 L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<spkac(1)|spkac(1)>, L<x509(1)|x509(1)>, L<CA.pl(1)|CA.pl(1)>,
500 L<config(5)|config(5)>