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.
320 =item B<nameopt>, B<certopt>
322 these options allow the format used to display the certificate details
323 when asking the user to confirm signing. All the options supported by
324 the B<x509> utilities B<-nameopt> and B<-certopt> switches can be used
325 here, except the B<no_signame> and B<no_sigdump> are permanently set
326 and cannot be disabled (this is because the certificate signature cannot
327 be displayed because the certificate has not been signed at this point).
329 For convenience the values B<default_ca> are accepted by both to produce
332 If neither option is present the format used in earlier versions of
333 OpenSSL is used. Use of the old format is B<strongly> discouraged because
334 it only displays fields mentioned in the B<policy> section, mishandles
335 multicharacter string types and does not display extensions.
341 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
342 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
343 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
344 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
345 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
346 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
347 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
351 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
352 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
353 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
354 It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility.
356 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
357 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
358 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
359 preceded by a number and a '.'.
363 Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is
364 already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually
365 involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a
366 serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in
367 the relevant directories.
369 To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
370 demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA
371 certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private
372 key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be
373 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
377 Sign a certificate request:
379 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
381 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
383 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
387 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
389 Sign several requests:
391 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
393 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
395 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
397 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
399 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
401 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
405 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>:
408 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
412 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
413 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
414 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
416 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
417 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
418 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
419 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
421 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
422 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
423 default_md = md5 # md to use
425 policy = policy_any # default policy
427 nameopt = default_ca # Subject name display option
428 certopt = default_ca # Certificate display option
431 countryName = supplied
432 stateOrProvinceName = optional
433 organizationName = optional
434 organizationalUnitName = optional
435 commonName = supplied
436 emailAddress = optional
440 The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
442 The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
443 in a CA. It was not supposed to be used as a full blown CA itself:
444 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
446 The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is
447 done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command
448 on the same database can have unpredictable results.
452 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
453 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
454 The values below reflect the default values.
456 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
457 ./demoCA - main CA directory
458 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
459 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
460 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
461 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
462 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
463 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
464 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
465 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
467 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
469 B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can
470 be overridden by the B<-config> command line option.
474 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
475 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
476 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
477 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
479 CRL entry extensions cannot currently be created: only CRL extensions
482 V2 CRL features like delta CRL support and CRL numbers are not currently
485 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
486 possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
490 The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
491 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
492 the database has to be kept in memory.
494 Certificate request extensions are ignored: some kind of "policy" should
495 be included to use certain static extensions and certain extensions
498 It is not possible to certify two certificates with the same DN: this
499 is a side effect of how the text database is indexed and it cannot easily
500 be fixed without introducing other problems. Some S/MIME clients can use
501 two certificates with the same DN for separate signing and encryption
504 The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
505 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
506 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and
507 B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much.
509 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
510 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used.
511 The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable.
513 Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
514 create an empty file.
518 L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<spkac(1)|spkac(1)>, L<x509(1)|x509(1)>, L<CA.pl(1)|CA.pl(1)>,
519 L<config(5)|config(5)>