Introduction
Reference from pki_default.cfg(5) that ships with pki-server version 10.
# man 5 pki_default.cfg
pki_default.cfg(5) PKI Default Instance Configuration pki_default.cfg(5)
NAME
pki_default.cfg - Certificate Server instance default config file.
LOCATION
/etc/pki/default.cfg
DESCRIPTION
This file contains the default settings for a Certificate Server instance created using pkispawn. This
file should not be edited, as it can be modified when the Certificate Server packages are updated.
Instead, when setting up a Certificate Server instance, a user should provide pkispawn with a configuration
file containing overrides to the defaults in /etc/pki/default.cfg. See pkispawn(8) for details.
SECTIONS
default.cfg contains parameters that are grouped into sections. These sections are stacked, so that param‐
eters defined in earlier sections can be overwritten by parameters defined in later sections. The sections
are read in the following order: [DEFAULT], [Tomcat], and the subsystem section ([CA], [KRA], [OCSP],
[TKS], or [TPS]). This allows the ability to specify parameters to be shared by all subsystems in [DEFAULT]
or [Tomcat], and subsystem-specific customization.
There are a small number of bootstrap parameters which are passed in the configuration file by pkispawn.
Other parameter's values can be interpolated tokens rather than explicit values. For example:
pki_ca_signing_nickname=caSigningCert cert-%(pki_instance_name)s CA
This substitutes the value of pki_instance_name into the parameter value. It is possible to interpolate
any non-password parameter within a section or in [DEFAULT]. Any parameter used in interpolation can ONLY
be overridden within the same section. So, for example, pki_instance_name should only be overridden in
[DEFAULT]; otherwise, interpolations can fail.
Note: Any non-password related parameter values in the configuration file that needs to contain a % char‐
acter must be properly escaped. For example, a value of foo%bar would be specified as foo%%bar in
the configuration file.
PRE-CHECK PARAMETERS
Once the configuration parameters have been constructed from the above sections and overrides, pkispawn
will perform a series of basic tests to determine if the parameters being passed in are valid and consis‐
tent, before starting any installation. In pre-check mode, these tests are executed and then pkispawn
exits.
It is possible to disable specific tests by setting the directives below. While all these tests should
pass to ensure a successful installation, it may be reasonable to skip tests in pre-check mode.
pki_skip_ds_verify
Skip verification of the Directory Server credentials. In this test, pkispawn attempts to bind to
the directory server instance for the internal database using the provided credentials. This could
be skipped if the directory server instance does not yet exist or is inaccessible. Defaults to
False.
pki_skip_sd_verify
Skip verification of the security domain user/password. In this test, pkispawn attempts to log onto
the security domain using the provided credentials. This can be skipped if the security domain is
unavailable. Defaults to False.
GENERAL INSTANCE PARAMETERS
The parameters described below, as well as the parameters located in the following sections, can be custom‐
ized as part of a deployment. This list is not exhaustive.
pki_instance_name
Name of the instance. The instance is located at /var/lib/pki/<instance_name>. For Java subsystems,
the default is specified as pki-tomcat.
pki_https_port, pki_http_port
Secure and unsecure ports. Defaults to standard Tomcat ports 8443 and 8080, respectively, for Java
subsystems.
pki_ajp_port, pki_tomcat_server_port
Ports for Tomcat subsystems. Defaults to standard Tomcat ports of 8009 and 8005, respectively.
pki_ajp_host
Host on which to listen for AJP requests. Defaults to localhost to listen to local traffic only.
pki_proxy_http_port, pki_proxy_https_port, pki_enable_proxy
Ports for an Apache proxy server. Certificate Server instances can be run behind an Apache proxy
server, which will communicate with the Tomcat instance through the AJP port. See the Red Hat Cer‐
tificate System documentation at https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/Red_Hat_Certificate_Sys‐
tem/ for details.
pki_user, pki_group, pki_audit_group
Specifies the default administrative user, group, and auditor group identities for PKI instances.
The default user and group are both specified as pkiuser, and the default audit group is specified
as pkiaudit.
pki_token_name, pki_token_password
The token and password where this instance's system certificate and keys are stored. Defaults to
the NSS internal software token.
pki_hsm_enable, pki_hsm_libfile, pki_hsm_modulename
If an optional hardware security module (HSM) is being utilized (rather than the default software
security module included in NSS), then the pki_hsm_enable parameter must be set to 'True' (by
default this parameter is 'False'), and values must be supplied for both the pki_hsm_libfile (e. g.
- pki_hsm_libfile=/opt/nfast/toolkits/pkcs11/libcknfast.so) and pki_hsm_modulename parameters (e. g.
- pki_hsm_modulename=nethsm).
SYSTEM CERTIFICATE PARAMETERS
pkispawn sets up a number of system certificates for each subsystem. The system certificates which are
required differ between subsystems. Each system certificate is denoted by a tag, as noted below. The dif‐
ferent system certificates are:
* signing certificate ("ca_signing"). Used to sign other certificates. Required for CA.
* OCSP signing certificate ("ocsp_signing" in CA, "signing" in OCSP). Used to sign CRLs. Required
for OCSP and CA.
* storage certificate ("storage"). Used to encrypt keys for storage in KRA. Required for KRA only.
* transport certificate ("transport"). Used to encrypt keys in transport to the KRA. Required for
KRA only.
* subsystem certificate ("subsystem"). Used to communicate between subsystems within the security
domain. Issued by the security domain CA. Required for all subsystems.
* server certificate ("sslserver"). Used for communication with the server. One server certificate
is required for each Certificate Server instance.
* audit signing certificate ("audit_signing"). Used to sign audit logs. Required for all subsys‐
tems except the RA.
Each system certificate can be customized using the parameters below:
pki_<tag>_key_type, pki_<type>_keysize, pki_<tag>_key_algorithm
Characteristics of the private key. See the Red Hat Certificate System documentation at
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/Red_Hat_Certificate_System/ for possible options. The
defaults are RSA for the type, 2048 bits for the key size, and SHA256withRSA for the algorithm.
pki_<tag>_signing_algorithm
For signing certificates, the algorithm used for signing. Defaults to SHA256withRSA.
pki_<tag>_token
Location where the certificate and private key are stored. Defaults to the internal software NSS
token database.
pki_<tag>_nickname
Nickname for the certificate in the token database.
pki_<tag>_subject_dn
Subject DN for the certificate. The subject DN for the SSL Server certificate must include
CN=<hostname>.
ADMIN USER PARAMETERS
pkispawn creates a bootstrap administrative user that is a member of all the necessary groups to administer
the installed subsystem. On a security domain CA, the CA administrative user is also a member of the
groups required to register a new subsystem on the security domain. The certificate and keys for this
administrative user are stored in a PKCS #12 file in pki_client_dir, and can be imported into a browser to
administer the system.
pki_admin_name, pki_admin_uid
Name and UID of this administrative user. Defaults to caadmin for CA, kraadmin for KRA, etc.
pki_admin_password
Password for the admin user. This password is used to log into the pki-console (unless client
authentication is enabled), as well as log into the security domain CA.
pki_admin_email
Email address for the admin user.
pki_admin_dualkey, pki_admin_keysize, pki_admin_key_type
Settings for the administrator certificate and keys.
pki_admin_subject_dn
Subject DN for the administrator certificate. Defaults to cn=PKI Administrator,
e=%(pki_admin_email)s, o=%(pki_security_domain_name)s.
pki_admin_nickname
Nickname for the administrator certificate.
pki_import_admin_cert
Set to True to import an existing admin certificate for the admin user, rather than generating a new
one. A subsystem-specific administrator will still be created within the subsystem's LDAP tree.
This is useful to allow multiple subsystems within the same instance to be more easily administered
from the same browser by using a single certificate.
By default, this is set to False for CA subsystems and true for KRA, OCSP, TKS, and TPS subsystems.
In this case, the admin certificate is read from the file ca_admin.cert in pki_client_dir.
Note that cloned subsystems do not create a new administrative user. The administrative user of the
master subsystem is used instead, and the details of this master user are replicated during the
install.
pki_client_admin_cert_p12
Location for the PKCS #12 file containing the administrative user's certificate and keys. For a CA,
this defaults to ca_admin_cert.p12 in the pki_client_dir directory.
BACKUP PARAMETERS
pki_backup_keys, pki_backup_password
Set to True to back up the subsystem certificates and keys to a PKCS #12 file. This file will be
located in /var/lib/pki/<instance_name>/alias. pki_backup_password is the password of the PKCS#12
file.
Important:
Since HSM keys are stored in the HSM (hardware), they cannot be backed up to a PKCS #12 file (soft‐
ware). Therefore, if pki_hsm_enable is set to True, pki_backup_keys should be set to False and
pki_backup_password should be left unset (the default values in /etc/pki/default.cfg). Failure to
do so will result in pkispawn reporting this error and exiting.
CLIENT DIRECTORY PARAMETERS
pki_client_dir
This is the location where all client data used during the installation is stored. At the end of
the invocation of pkispawn, the administrative user's certificate and keys are stored in a PKCS #12
file in this location.
Note: When using an HSM, it is currently recommended to NOT specify a value for pki_client_dir that
is different from the default value.
pki_client_database_dir, pki_client_database_password
Location where an NSS token database is created in order to generate a key for the administrative
user. Usually, the data in this location is removed at the end of the installation, as the keys and
certificates are stored in a PKCS #12 file in pki_client_dir.
pki_client_database_purge
Set to True to remove pki_client_database_dir at the end of the installation. Defaults to True.
INTERNAL DATABASE PARAMETERS
pki_ds_hostname, pki_ds_ldap_port, pki_ds_ldaps_port
Hostname and ports for the internal database. Defaults to localhost, 389, and 636, respectively.
pki_ds_bind_dn, pki_ds_password
Credentials to connect to the database during installation. Directory Manager-level access is
required during installation to set up the relevant schema and database. During the installation, a
more restricted Certificate Server user is set up to client authentication connections to the data‐
base. Some additional configuration is required, including setting up the directory server to use
SSL. See the documentation for details.
pki_ds_secure_connection
Sets whether to require connections to the Directory Server using LDAPS. This requires SSL to be
set up on the Directory Server first. Defaults to false.
pki_ds_secure_connection_ca_nickname
Once a Directory Server CA certificate has been imported into the PKI security databases (see
pki_ds_secure_connection_ca_pem_file), pki_ds_secure_connection_ca_nickname will contain the nick‐
name under which it is stored. The default.cfg file contains a default value for this nickname.
This parameter is only utilized when pki_ds_secure_connection has been set to true.
pki_ds_secure_connection_ca_pem_file
The pki_ds_secure_connection_ca_pem_file parameter will consist of the fully-qualified path includ‐
ing the filename of a file which contains an exported copy of a Directory Server's CA certificate.
While this parameter is only utilized when pki_ds_secure_connection has been set to true, a valid
value is required for this parameter whenever this condition exists.
pki_ds_remove_data
Sets whether to remove any data from the base DN before starting the installation. Defaults to
True.
pki_ds_base_dn
The base DN for the internal database. It is advised that the Certificate Server have its own base
DN for its internal database. If the base DN does not exist, it will be created during the running
of pkispawn. For a cloned subsystem, the base DN for the clone subsystem MUST be the same as for
the master subsystem.
pki_ds_database
Name of the back-end database. It is advised that the Certificate Server have its own base DN for
its internal database. If the back-end does not exist, it will be created during the running of
pkispawn.
ISSUING CA PARAMETERS
pki_issuing_ca_hostname, pki_issuing_ca_https_port, pki_issuing_ca_uri
Hostname and port, or URI of the issuing CA. Required for installations of subordinate CA and non-
CA subsystems. This should point to the CA that will issue the relevant system certificates for the
subsystem. In a default install, this defaults to the CA subsystem within the same instance. The
URI has the format https://<ca_hostname>:<ca_https_port>.
MISCELLANEOUS PARAMETERS
pki_restart_configured_instance
Sets whether to restart the instance after configuration is complete. Defaults to True.
pki_enable_access_log
Located in the [Tomcat] section, this variable determines whether the instance will enable (True) or
disable (False) Tomcat access logging. Defaults to True.
pki_enable_java_debugger
Sets whether to attach a Java debugger such as Eclipse to the instance for troubleshooting.
Defaults to False.
pki_enable_on_system_boot
Sets whether or not PKI instances should be started upon system boot.
Currently, if this PKI subsystem exists within a shared instance, and it has been configured to
start upon system boot, then ALL other previously configured PKI subsystems within this shared
instance will start upon system boot.
Similarly, if this PKI subsystem exists within a shared instance, and it has been configured to NOT
start upon system boot, then ALL other previously configured PKI subsystems within this shared
instance will NOT start upon system boot.
Additionally, if more than one PKI instance exists, no granularity exists which allows one PKI
instance to be enabled while another PKI instance is disabled (i.e. - PKI instances are either all
enabled or all disabled). To provide this capability, the PKI instances must reside on separate
machines.
Defaults to True (see the following note on why this was previously 'False').
Note: Since this parameter did not exist prior to Dogtag 10.2.3, the default behavior of PKI instances in
Dogtag 10.2.2 and prior was False. To manually enable this behavior, obtain superuser privileges,
and execute 'systemctl enable pki-tomcatd.target'; to manually disable this behavior, execute 'sys‐
temctl disable pki-tomcatd.target'.
pki_security_manager
Enables the Java security manager policies provided by the JDK to be used with the instance.
Defaults to True.
SECURITY DOMAIN PARAMETERS
The security domain is a component that facilitates communication between subsystems. The first CA
installed hosts this component and is used to register subsequent subsystems with the security domain.
These subsystems can communicate with each other using their subsystem certificate, which is issued by the
security domain CA. For more information about the security domain component, see the Red Hat Certificate
System documentation at https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/Red_Hat_Certificate_System/.
pki_security_domain_hostname, pki_security_domain_https_port
Location of the security domain. Required for KRA, OCSP, TKS, and TPS subsystems and for CA subsys‐
tems joining a security domain. Defaults to the location of the CA subsystem within the same
instance.
pki_security_domain_user, pki_security_domain_password
Administrative user of the security domain. Required for KRA, OCSP, TKS, and TPS subsystems, and
for CA subsystems joining a security domain. Defaults to the administrative user for the CA subsys‐
tem within the same instance (caadmin).
pki_security_domain_name
The name of the security domain. This is required for the security domain CA.
CLONE PARAMETERS
pki_clone
Installs a clone, rather than original, subsystem.
pki_clone_pkcs12_password, pki_clone_pkcs12_path
Location and password of the PKCS #12 file containing the system certificates for the master subsys‐
tem being cloned. This file should be readable by the user that the Certificate Server is running
as (default of pkiuser), and have the correct selinux context (pki_tomcat_cert_t). This can be
achieved by placing the file in /var/lib/pki/<instance_name>/alias.
Important:
Since HSM keys are stored in the HSM (hardware), they cannot be copied to a PKCS #12 file (soft‐
ware). For the case of clones using an HSM, this means that the HSM keys must be shared between the
master and its clones. Therefore, if pki_hsm_enable is set to True, both pki_clone_pkcs12_path and
pki_clone_pkcs12_password should be left unset (the default values in /etc/pki/default.cfg). Fail‐
ure to do so will result in pkispawn reporting this error and exiting.
pki_clone_setup_replication
Defaults to True. If set to False, the installer does not set up replication agreements from the
master to the clone as part of the subsystem configuration. In this case, it is expected that the
top level suffix already exists, and that the data has already been replicated. This option is use‐
ful if you want to use other tools to create and manage your replication topology, or if the baseDN
is already replicated as part of a top-level suffix.
pki_clone_reindex_data
Defaults to False. This parameter is only relevant when pki_clone_setup_replication is set to
False. In this case, it is expected that the database has been prepared and replicated as noted
above. Part of that preparation could involve adding indexes and indexing the data. If you would
like the Dogtag installer to add the indexes and reindex the data instead, set pki_clone_rein‐
dex_data to True.
pki_clone_replication_master_port, pki_clone_replication_clone_port
Ports on which replication occurs. These are the ports on the master and clone databases respec‐
tively. Defaults to the internal database port.
pki_clone_replicate_schema
Replicate schema when the replication agreement is set up and the new instance (consumer) is ini‐
tialized. Otherwise, the schema must be installed in the clone as a separate step beforehand. This
does not usually have to be changed. Defaults to True.
pki_clone_replication_security
The type of security used for the replication data. This can be set to SSL (using LDAPS), TLS, or
None. Defaults to None. For SSL and TLS, SSL must be set up for the database instances beforehand.
pki_master_hostname, pki_master_https_port, pki_clone_uri
Hostname and port, or URI of the subsystem being cloned. The URI format is https://<master_host‐
name>:<master_https_port> where the default master hostname and https port are set to be the secu‐
rity domain's hostname and https port.
CA SERIAL NUMBER PARAMETERS
pki_serial_number_range_start, pki_serial_number_range_end
Sets the range of serial numbers to be used when issuing certificates. Values here are hexadecimal
(without the 0x prefix). It is useful to override these values when migrating data from another CA,
so that serial number conflicts do not occur. Defaults to 1 and 10000000 respectively.
pki_request_number_range_start, pki_request_number_range_end
Sets the range of request numbers to be used by the CA. Values here are decimal. It is useful to
override these values when migrating data from another CA, so that request number conflicts do not
occur. Defaults to 1 and 10000000 respectively.
pki_replica_number_range_start, pki_replica_number_range_end
Sets the range of replica numbers to be used by the CA. These numbers are used to identify database
replicas in a replication topology. Values here are decimal. Defaults to 1 and 100 respectively.
EXTERNAL CA CERTIFICATE PARAMETERS
pki_external
Sets whether the new CA will have a signing certificate that will be issued by an external CA. This
is a two step process. In the first step, a CSR to be presented to the external CA is generated.
In the second step, the issued signing certificate and certificate chain are provided to the
pkispawn utility to complete the installation. Defaults to False.
pki_external_csr_path
Required in the first step of the external CA signing process. The CSR will be printed to the
screen and stored in this location.
pki_external_step_two
Specifies that this is the second step of the external CA process. Defaults to False.
pki_external_ca_cert_path, pki_external_ca_cert_chain_path
Required for the second step of the external CA signing process. This is the location of the CA
signing cert (as issued by the external CA) and the external CA's certificate chain.
SUBORDINATE CA CERTIFICATE PARAMETERS
pki_subordinate
Specifies whether the new CA which will be a subordinate of another CA. The master CA is specified
by pki_issuing_ca. Defaults to False.
pki_subordinate_create_new_security_domain
Set to True if the subordinate CA will host its own security domain. Defaults to False.
pki_subordinate_security_domain_name
Used when pki_subordinate_create_security_domain is set to True. Specifies the name of the security
domain to be hosted on the subordinate CA.
STANDALONE PKI PARAMETERS
A stand-alone PKI subsystem is defined as a non-CA PKI subsystem that does not contain a CA as a part of
its deployment, and functions as its own security domain. Currently, only stand-alone KRAs are supported.
pki_standalone
Sets whether or not the new PKI subsystem will be stand-alone. This is a two step process. In the
first step, CSRs for each of this stand-alone PKI subsystem's certificates will be generated so that
they may be presented to the external CA. In the second step, the issued certificates, external CA
certificate, and external CA certificate chain are provided to the pkispawn utility to complete the
installation. Defaults to False.
pki_external_admin_csr_path
Will be generated by the first step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file
containing the administrator's CSR (which will be presented to the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_admin.csr'.
pki_external_audit_signing_csr_path
Will be generated by the first step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file
containing the audit signing CSR (which will be presented to the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_audit_signing.csr'.
pki_external_sslserver_csr_path
Will be generated by the first step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file
containing the SSL server CSR (which will be presented to the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_sslserver.csr'.
pki_external_storage_csr_path
[KRA ONLY] Will be generated by the first step of a stand-alone KRA process. This is the location
of the file containing the storage CSR (which will be presented to the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/kra_storage.csr'.
pki_external_subsystem_csr_path
Will be generated by the first step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file
containing the subsystem CSR (which will be presented to the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_subsystem.csr'.
pki_external_transport_csr_path
[KRA ONLY] Will be generated by the first step of a stand-alone KRA process. This is the location
of the file containing the transport CSR (which will be presented to the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/kra_transport.csr'.
pki_external_step_two
Specifies that this is the second step of a standalone PKI process. Defaults to False.
pki_external_ca_cert_chain_path
Required for the second step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file con‐
taining the external CA signing certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/external_ca.cert'.
pki_external_ca_cert_path
Required for the second step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file con‐
taining the external CA's certificate chain (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/external_ca_chain.cert'.
pki_external_admin_cert_path
Required for the second step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file con‐
taining the administrator's certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_admin.cert'.
pki_external_audit_signing_cert_path
Required for the second step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file con‐
taining the audit signing certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_audit_signing.cert'.
pki_external_sslserver_cert_path
Required for the second step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file con‐
taining the sslserver certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to '%(pki_instance_con‐
figuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_sslserver.cert'.
pki_external_storage_cert_path
[KRA ONLY] Required for the second step of a stand-alone KRA process. This is the location of the
file containing the storage certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/kra_storage.cert'.
pki_external_subsystem_cert_path
Required for the second step of a stand-alone PKI process. This is the location of the file con‐
taining the subsystem certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to '%(pki_instance_con‐
figuration_path)s/%(pki_subsystem_type)s_subsystem.cert'.
pki_external_transport_cert_path
[KRA ONLY] Required for the second step of a stand-alone KRA process. This is the location of the
file containing the transport certificate (as issued by the external CA). Defaults to
'%(pki_instance_configuration_path)s/kra_transport.cert'.
TPS PARAMETERS
pki_authdb_basedn
Specifies the base DN of TPS authentication database.
pki_authdb_hostname
Specifies the hostname of TPS authentication database. Defaults to localhost.
pki_authdb_port
Specifies the port number of TPS authentication database. Defaults to 389.
pki_authdb_secure_conn
Specifies whether to use a secure connection to TPS authentication database. Defaults to False.
pki_enable_server_side_keygen
Specifies whether to enable server-side key generation. Defaults to False. The location of the KRA
instance should be specified in the pki_kra_uri parameter.
pki_ca_uri
Specifies the URI of the CA instance used by TPS to create and revoke user certificates. Defaults to
the instance in which the TPS is running.
pki_kra_uri
Specifies the URI of the KRA instance used by TPS to archive and recover keys. Required if server-
side key generation is enabled using the pki_enable_server_side_keygen parameter. Defaults to the
instance in which the TPS is running.
pki_tks_uri
Specifies the URI of the TKS instance used by TPS to generate symmetric keys. Defaults to the
instance in which the TPS is running.
AUTHORS
Ade Lee <alee@redhat.com>. pkispawn was written by the Dogtag project.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2012 Red Hat, Inc. This is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2).
A copy of this license is available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.txt.
SEE ALSO
pkispawn(8)
version 1.0 December 13, 2012 pki_default.cfg(5)
