6 ca - sample minimal CA application
38 [B<-extensions section>]
42 The B<ca> command is a minimal CA application. It can be used
43 to sign certificate requests in a variety of forms and generate
44 CRLs it also maintains a text database of issued certificates
47 The options descriptions will be divided into each purpose.
53 =item B<-config filename>
55 specifies the configuration file to use.
59 an input filename containing a single certificate request to be
62 =item B<-ss_cert filename>
64 a single self signed certificate to be signed by the CA.
66 =item B<-spkac filename>
68 a file containing a single Netscape signed public key and challenge
69 and additional field values to be signed by the CA. See the B<NOTES>
70 section for information on the required format.
74 if present this should be the last option, all subsequent arguments
75 are assumed to the the names of files containing certificate requests.
77 =item B<-out filename>
79 the output file to output certificates to. The default is standard
80 output. The certificate details will also be printed out to this
83 =item B<-outdir directory>
85 the directory to output certificates to. The certificate will be
86 written to a filename consisting of the serial number in hex with
91 the CA certificate file.
93 =item B<-keyfile filename>
95 the private key to sign requests with.
97 =item B<-key password>
99 the password used to encrypt the private key. Since on some
100 systems the command line arguments are visible (e.g. Unix with
101 the 'ps' utility) this option should be used with caution.
105 the key password source. For more information about the format of B<arg>
106 see the B<PASS PHRASE ARGUMENTS> section in L<openssl(1)|openssl(1)>.
109 this prints extra details about the operations being performed.
113 don't output the text form of a certificate to the output file.
115 =item B<-startdate date>
117 this allows the start date to be explicitly set. The format of the
118 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
120 =item B<-enddate date>
122 this allows the expiry date to be explicitly set. The format of the
123 date is YYMMDDHHMMSSZ (the same as an ASN1 UTCTime structure).
127 the number of days to certify the certificate for.
131 the message digest to use. Possible values include md5, sha1 and mdc2.
132 This option also applies to CRLs.
136 this option defines the CA "policy" to use. This is a section in
137 the configuration file which decides which fields should be mandatory
138 or match the CA certificate. Check out the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
139 for more information.
143 this is a legacy option to make B<ca> work with very old versions of
144 the IE certificate enrollment control "certenr3". It used UniversalStrings
145 for almost everything. Since the old control has various security bugs
146 its use is strongly discouraged. The newer control "Xenroll" does not
151 Normally the DN order of a certificate is the same as the order of the
152 fields in the relevant policy section. When this option is set the order
153 is the same as the request. This is largely for compatibility with the
154 older IE enrollment control which would only accept certificates if their
155 DNs match the order of the request. This is not needed for Xenroll.
159 this sets the batch mode. In this mode no questions will be asked
160 and all certificates will be certified automatically.
162 =item B<-extensions section>
164 the section of the configuration file containing certificate extensions
165 to be added when a certificate is issued. If no extension section is
166 present then a V1 certificate is created. If the extension section
167 is present (even if it is empty) then a V3 certificate is created.
177 this option generates a CRL based on information in the index file.
179 =item B<-crldays num>
181 the number of days before the next CRL is due. That is the days from
182 now to place in the CRL nextUpdate field.
184 =item B<-crlhours num>
186 the number of hours before the next CRL is due.
188 =item B<-revoke filename>
190 a filename containing a certificate to revoke.
192 =item B<-crlexts section>
194 the section of the configuration file containing CRL extensions to
195 include. If no CRL extension section is present then a V1 CRL is
196 created, if the CRL extension section is present (even if it is
197 empty) then a V2 CRL is created. The CRL extensions specified are
198 CRL extensions and B<not> CRL entry extensions. It should be noted
199 that some software (for example Netscape) can't handle V2 CRLs.
203 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILE OPTIONS
205 The options for B<ca> are contained in the B<ca> section of the
206 configuration file. Many of these are identical to command line
207 options. Where the option is present in the configuration file
208 and the command line the command line value is used. Where an
209 option is described as mandatory then it must be present in
210 the configuration file or the command line equivalent (if
217 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
218 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
219 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
220 by white space and finally the long name.
224 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
225 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
226 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
227 and long names are the same when this option is used.
229 =item B<new_certs_dir>
231 the same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
232 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
236 the same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
237 certificate. Mandatory.
241 same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
242 CA private key. Mandatory.
246 a file used to read and write random number seed information, or
247 an EGD socket (see L<RAND_egd(3)|RAND_egd(3)>).
249 =item B<default_days>
251 the same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
254 =item B<default_startdate>
256 the same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
257 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
259 =item B<default_enddate>
261 the same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
262 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
265 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
267 the same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
268 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
269 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
273 the same as the B<-md> option. The message digest to use. Mandatory.
277 the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
278 though initially it will be empty.
282 a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
283 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
285 =item B<x509_extensions>
287 the same as B<-extensions>.
289 =item B<crl_extensions>
291 the same as B<-crlexts>.
295 the same as B<-preserveDN>
299 the same as B<-msie_hack>
303 the same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
304 for more information.
310 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
311 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
312 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
313 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
314 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
315 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
316 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
320 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
321 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
322 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
323 It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility.
325 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
326 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
327 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
328 preceded by a number and a '.'.
332 Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is
333 already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually
334 involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a
335 serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in
336 the relevant directories.
338 To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
339 demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA
340 certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private
341 key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be
342 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
346 Sign a certificate request:
348 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
350 Sign a certificate request, using CA extensions:
352 openssl ca -in req.pem -extensions v3_ca -out newcert.pem
356 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
358 Sign several requests:
360 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
362 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
364 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
366 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
368 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
370 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
374 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>:
377 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
381 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
382 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
383 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
385 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
386 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
387 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
388 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
390 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
391 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
392 default_md = md5 # md to use
394 policy = policy_any # default policy
397 countryName = supplied
398 stateOrProvinceName = optional
399 organizationName = optional
400 organizationalUnitName = optional
401 commonName = supplied
402 emailAddress = optional
406 The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
408 The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
409 in a CA. It was not supposed be be used as a full blown CA itself:
410 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
412 The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is
413 done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command
414 on the same database can have unpredictable results.
418 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
419 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
420 The values below reflect the default values.
422 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
423 ./demoCA - main CA directory
424 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
425 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
426 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
427 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
428 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
429 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
430 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
431 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
433 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
435 B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can
436 be overridden by the B<-config> command line option.
440 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
441 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
442 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
443 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
445 CRL entry extensions cannot currently be created: only CRL extensions
448 V2 CRL features like delta CRL support and CRL numbers are not currently
451 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
452 possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
456 The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
457 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
458 the database has to be kept in memory.
460 Certificate request extensions are ignored: some kind of "policy" should
461 be included to use certain static extensions and certain extensions
464 It is not possible to certify two certificates with the same DN: this
465 is a side effect of how the text database is indexed and it cannot easily
466 be fixed without introducing other problems. Some S/MIME clients can use
467 two certificates with the same DN for separate signing and encryption
470 The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
471 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
472 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and
473 B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much.
475 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
476 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used but
477 the extra fields are not displayed when the user is asked to certify
478 a request. The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable.
480 Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
481 create an empty file.
485 L<req(1)|req(1)>, L<spkac(1)|spkac(1)>, L<x509(1)|x509(1)>, L<CA.pl(1)|CA.pl(1)>,
486 L<config(5)|config(5)>