6 ca - sample minimal CA application
36 [B<-extensions section>]
40 The B<ca> command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
41 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
42 CRLs it also maintains a text database of issued certificates
45 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
51 =item B<-config filename>
53 specifies the configuration file to use.
57 an input filename containing a single certificate request to be
60 =item B<-ss_cert filename>
62 a single self signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
64 =item B<-spkac filename>
66 a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
67 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<NOTES>
68 section for information on the required format.
72 if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
73 are assumed to the the names of files containing certificate requests.
75 =item B<-out filename>
77 the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
78 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
81 =item B<-outdir directory>
83 the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
84 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
89 the CA certificate file.
91 =item B<-keyfile filename>
93 the private key to sign requests with.
95 =item B<-key password>
97 the password used to encrrypt the private key. Since on some
98 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
99 the 'ps' utility) this option should be used with caution.
103 this prints extra details about the operations being performed.
105 =item B<-startdate date>
107 this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
108 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
110 =item B<-enddate date>
112 this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
113 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
117 the number of days to certify the certificate for.
121 the message digest to use. Possible values include md5, sha1 and mdc2.
122 This option also applies to CRLs.
126 this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
127 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
128 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
129 for more information.
133 this is a legacy option to make B<ca> work with very old versions of
134 the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
135 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
136 its use is strongly discouraged. The newer control "Xenroll" does not
141 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
142 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
143 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatability with the
144 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
145 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
149 this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
150 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
152 =item B<-extensions section>
154 the section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
155 to be added when a certificate is issued. If no extension section is
156 present then a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
157 is present (even if it is empty) then a V3 certificate is created.
167 this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
169 =item B<-crldays num>
171 the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
172 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
174 =item B<-crlhours num>
176 the number of hours before the next CRL is due.
178 =item B<-revoke filename>
180 a filename containing a certificate to revoke.
182 =item B<-crlexts section>
184 the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
185 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
186 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
187 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
188 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
189 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs.
193 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
195 The options for B<ca> are contained in the B<ca> section of the
196 configuration file. Many of these are identical to command line
197 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
198 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
199 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
200 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
205 =item B<new_certs_dir>
207 the same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
208 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
212 the same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
213 certificate. Mandatory.
217 same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
218 CA private key. Mandatory.
222 a file used to read and write random number seed information.
224 =item B<default_days>
226 the same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
229 =item B<default_startdate>
231 the same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
232 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
234 =item B<default_enddate>
236 the same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
237 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
240 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
242 the same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
243 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
244 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
248 the same as the B<-md> option. The message digest to use. Mandatory.
252 the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
253 though initially it will be empty.
257 a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
258 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
260 =item B<x509_extensions>
262 the same as B<-extensions>.
264 =item B<crl_extensions>
266 the same as B<-crlexts>.
270 the same as B<-preserveDN>
274 the same as B<-msie_hack>
278 the same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
279 for more information.
285 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
286 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
287 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
288 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
289 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
290 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
291 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
295 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
296 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
297 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
298 It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility.
300 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
301 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
302 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
303 preceded by a number and a '.'.
307 Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is
308 already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually
309 involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a
310 serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in
311 the relevant directories.
313 To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
314 demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA
315 certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private
316 key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be
317 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
321 Sign a certificate request:
323 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
327 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
329 Sign several requests:
331 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
333 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
335 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
337 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
339 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
341 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
345 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>:
348 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
352 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
353 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
354 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
356 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
357 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
358 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
359 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
361 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
362 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
363 default_md = md5 # md to use
365 policy = policy_any # default policy
368 countryName = supplied
369 stateOrProvinceName = optional
370 organizationName = optional
371 organizationalUnitName = optional
372 commonName = supplied
373 emailAddress = optional
377 The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
379 The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
380 in a CA. It was not supposed be be used as a full blown CA itself:
381 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
383 The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is
384 done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command
385 on the same database can have unpredictable results.
389 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
390 configration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
391 The values below reflect the default values.
393 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
394 ./demoCA - main CA directory
395 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
396 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
397 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
398 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
399 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
400 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
401 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
402 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
404 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
406 B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can
407 be overridden by the B<-config> command line option.
411 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
412 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
413 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
414 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
416 CRL entry extensions cannot currently be created: only CRL extensions
419 V2 CRL features like delta CRL support and CRL numbers are not currently
422 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
423 possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
427 The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
428 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
429 the database has to be kept in memory.
431 Certificate request extensions are ignored: some kind of "policy" should
432 be included to use certain static extensions and certain extensions
435 It is not possible to certify two certificates with the same DN: this
436 is a side effect of how the text database is indexed and it cannot easily
437 be fixed without introducing other problems. Netscape apparently can use
438 two certificates with the same DN for separate signing and encryption
441 The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
442 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
443 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and
444 B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much.
446 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
447 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used but
448 the extra fields are not displayed when the user is asked to certify
449 a request. The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable.
451 Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
452 create an empty file.
456 req(1), spkac(1), x509(1), CA.pl(1), config(5)