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 encrypt 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 compatibility 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
207 This specifies a file containing additional B<OBJECT IDENTIFIERS>.
208 Each line of the file should consist of the numerical form of the
209 object identifier followed by white space then the short name followed
210 by white space and finally the long name.
214 This specifies a section in the configuration file containing extra
215 object identifiers. Each line should consist of the short name of the
216 object identifier followed by B<=> and the numerical form. The short
217 and long names are the same when this option is used.
219 =item B<new_certs_dir>
221 the same as the B<-outdir> command line option. It specifies
222 the directory where new certificates will be placed. Mandatory.
226 the same as B<-cert>. It gives the file containing the CA
227 certificate. Mandatory.
231 same as the B<-keyfile> option. The file containing the
232 CA private key. Mandatory.
236 a file used to read and write random number seed information.
238 =item B<default_days>
240 the same as the B<-days> option. The number of days to certify
243 =item B<default_startdate>
245 the same as the B<-startdate> option. The start date to certify
246 a certificate for. If not set the current time is used.
248 =item B<default_enddate>
250 the same as the B<-enddate> option. Either this option or
251 B<default_days> (or the command line equivalents) must be
254 =item B<default_crl_hours default_crl_days>
256 the same as the B<-crlhours> and the B<-crldays> options. These
257 will only be used if neither command line option is present. At
258 least one of these must be present to generate a CRL.
262 the same as the B<-md> option. The message digest to use. Mandatory.
266 the text database file to use. Mandatory. This file must be present
267 though initially it will be empty.
271 a text file containing the next serial number to use in hex. Mandatory.
272 This file must be present and contain a valid serial number.
274 =item B<x509_extensions>
276 the same as B<-extensions>.
278 =item B<crl_extensions>
280 the same as B<-crlexts>.
284 the same as B<-preserveDN>
288 the same as B<-msie_hack>
292 the same as B<-policy>. Mandatory. See the B<POLICY FORMAT> section
293 for more information.
299 The policy section consists of a set of variables corresponding to
300 certificate DN fields. If the value is "match" then the field value
301 must match the same field in the CA certificate. If the value is
302 "supplied" then it must be present. If the value is "optional" then
303 it may be present. Any fields not mentioned in the policy section
304 are silently deleted, unless the B<-preserveDN> option is set but
305 this can be regarded more of a quirk than intended behaviour.
309 The input to the B<-spkac> command line option is a Netscape
310 signed public key and challenge. This will usually come from
311 the B<KEYGEN> tag in an HTML form to create a new private key.
312 It is however possible to create SPKACs using the B<spkac> utility.
314 The file should contain the variable SPKAC set to the value of
315 the SPKAC and also the required DN components as name value pairs.
316 If you need to include the same component twice then it can be
317 preceded by a number and a '.'.
321 Note: these examples assume that the B<ca> directory structure is
322 already set up and the relevant files already exist. This usually
323 involves creating a CA certificate and private key with B<req>, a
324 serial number file and an empty index file and placing them in
325 the relevant directories.
327 To use the sample configuration file below the directories demoCA,
328 demoCA/private and demoCA/newcerts would be created. The CA
329 certificate would be copied to demoCA/cacert.pem and its private
330 key to demoCA/private/cakey.pem. A file demoCA/serial would be
331 created containing for example "01" and the empty index file
335 Sign a certificate request:
337 openssl ca -in req.pem -out newcert.pem
341 openssl ca -gencrl -out crl.pem
343 Sign several requests:
345 openssl ca -infiles req1.pem req2.pem req3.pem
347 Certify a Netscape SPKAC:
349 openssl ca -spkac spkac.txt
351 A sample SPKAC file (the SPKAC line has been truncated for clarity):
353 SPKAC=MIG0MGAwXDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAANLADBIAkEAn7PDhCeV/xIxUg8V70YRxK2A5
355 emailAddress=steve@openssl.org
359 A sample configuration file with the relevant sections for B<ca>:
362 default_ca = CA_default # The default ca section
366 dir = ./demoCA # top dir
367 database = $dir/index.txt # index file.
368 new_certs_dir = $dir/newcerts # new certs dir
370 certificate = $dir/cacert.pem # The CA cert
371 serial = $dir/serial # serial no file
372 private_key = $dir/private/cakey.pem# CA private key
373 RANDFILE = $dir/private/.rand # random number file
375 default_days = 365 # how long to certify for
376 default_crl_days= 30 # how long before next CRL
377 default_md = md5 # md to use
379 policy = policy_any # default policy
382 countryName = supplied
383 stateOrProvinceName = optional
384 organizationName = optional
385 organizationalUnitName = optional
386 commonName = supplied
387 emailAddress = optional
391 The B<ca> command is quirky and at times downright unfriendly.
393 The B<ca> utility was originally meant as an example of how to do things
394 in a CA. It was not supposed be be used as a full blown CA itself:
395 nevertheless some people are using it for this purpose.
397 The B<ca> command is effectively a single user command: no locking is
398 done on the various files and attempts to run more than one B<ca> command
399 on the same database can have unpredictable results.
403 Note: the location of all files can change either by compile time options,
404 configuration file entries, environment variables or command line options.
405 The values below reflect the default values.
407 /usr/local/ssl/lib/openssl.cnf - master configuration file
408 ./demoCA - main CA directory
409 ./demoCA/cacert.pem - CA certificate
410 ./demoCA/private/cakey.pem - CA private key
411 ./demoCA/serial - CA serial number file
412 ./demoCA/serial.old - CA serial number backup file
413 ./demoCA/index.txt - CA text database file
414 ./demoCA/index.txt.old - CA text database backup file
415 ./demoCA/certs - certificate output file
416 ./demoCA/.rnd - CA random seed information
418 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
420 B<OPENSSL_CONF> reflects the location of master configuration file it can
421 be overridden by the B<-config> command line option.
425 The text database index file is a critical part of the process and
426 if corrupted it can be difficult to fix. It is theoretically possible
427 to rebuild the index file from all the issued certificates and a current
428 CRL: however there is no option to do this.
430 CRL entry extensions cannot currently be created: only CRL extensions
433 V2 CRL features like delta CRL support and CRL numbers are not currently
436 Although several requests can be input and handled at once it is only
437 possible to include one SPKAC or self signed certificate.
441 The use of an in memory text database can cause problems when large
442 numbers of certificates are present because, as the name implies
443 the database has to be kept in memory.
445 Certificate request extensions are ignored: some kind of "policy" should
446 be included to use certain static extensions and certain extensions
449 It is not possible to certify two certificates with the same DN: this
450 is a side effect of how the text database is indexed and it cannot easily
451 be fixed without introducing other problems. Some S/MIME clients can use
452 two certificates with the same DN for separate signing and encryption
455 The B<ca> command really needs rewriting or the required functionality
456 exposed at either a command or interface level so a more friendly utility
457 (perl script or GUI) can handle things properly. The scripts B<CA.sh> and
458 B<CA.pl> help a little but not very much.
460 Any fields in a request that are not present in a policy are silently
461 deleted. This does not happen if the B<-preserveDN> option is used but
462 the extra fields are not displayed when the user is asked to certify
463 a request. The behaviour should be more friendly and configurable.
465 Cancelling some commands by refusing to certify a certificate can
466 create an empty file.
470 req(1), spkac(1), x509(1), CA.pl(1), config(5)