ca-scripts/doc/ca-create-cert.1

.TH "ca-create-cert" "1" "16 October 2009" "ca-scripts version 0.9" "SSL Certificate Authority utilities" 
.SH NAME
ca-create-cert \- generate a signed X.509 SSL certificate
.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.
.SY ca-create-cert 
\-t type
.OP \-cprsx
.OP \-f config
.OP \-d days
.OP \-n name
.OP options
<host or user name>
.
.SY ca-create-cert
.OP \-h
|
.OP \-\-help
.YS
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.
.BR ca-create-cert (1)
creates an openssl configuration necessary for generating a signed X.509 SSL 
certificate, generates a certificate signing request using these configuration
files, and signs that request using the CA private key so that it may be
considered as trusted by anything that has imported the CA certificate.
.
.SH OPTIONS
.
.SS The host or user name
This argument to \fBca-create-cert\fR is mandatory, and specifies the common
name of the certificate. Depending on the type of certificate being created,
it is interpreted as either a host name or a user name. Host names are treated
as unqualified if they do not contain any dots and are fully qualified with
the value of CA_DOMAIN in this case, though the unqualified name is preserved
as an additional DNS name in the X.509v3 subjectAltName extension. User names
are treated as unqualified if they do not contain an "@" symbol and are fully
qualified with the value of CA_DOMAIN in this case, yielding a CN like 
\fIuser@example.com\fR assuming CA_DOMAIN was set to "example.com".
.
.SS General options
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
Prints out a short synopsis of the options to \fBca-create-cert\fR.
.
.TP
\fB\-t \fITYPE\fR, \fB\-\-type \fITYPE\fR
This argument is mandatory. \fBca-create-cert\fR can create three types of
X.509 certificate: \fIserver\fR, \fIclient\fR, and \fIuser\fR. These differ
in the X.509v3 extensions present in the signed certificate, and in the uses
the certificate is trusted for. See
.BR x509 (1ssl)
and
.BR x509v3_config (5ssl)
for more details about X.509 extensions, and the \fBCERTIFICATE TYPES\fR
section of this manual for more details on the exact differences between the
certificate types.
.
.TP
\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-encrypt\fR
Encrypt the generated private key with 3DES. This is not recommended for 
\fIserver\fR or \fIclient\fR type certificates, but is probably a good idea for
\fIuser\fR certs.
.
.TP
\fB\-f \fIFILE\fR, \fB\-\-config \fIFILE\fR
Load the ca-scripts configuration from \fIFILE\fR instead of
\fI/etc/ca-scripts.conf\fR.
.
.TP
\fB\-d \fIDAYS\fR, \fB\-\-days \fIDAYS\fR
Sign the certificate to be valid for \fIDAYS\fR days instead of the default of
one year.
.
.TP
\fB\-n \fINAME\fR, \fB\-\-alt-name \fINAME\fR
Only valid for \fIserver\fR type certificates. Specifies an alternative host
name to add to the X.509v3 \fIsubjectAltName\fR extension field, which will
also be recognised as a valid host name for the certificate. May be provided
multiple times to add multiple host names.
.
.TP
\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-pkcs12\fR
Generate a PKCS#12 format certificate archive containing the new certificate
and private key along with the CA certificate. See
.BR pkcs12 (1ssl)
for more details about PKCS#12 archives.
.
.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-csr-only\fR
Causes \fBca-create-cert\fR to generate just the X.509 certificate signing
request (CSR) from a pre-existing openssl request configuration, without
signing it to create a valid certificate. When used in conjunction with
\fB\-\-cnf-only\fR, \fBca-create-cert\fR only generates the openssl request
configuration, allowing the user to modify it before creating the CSR. Mutually
exclusive to \fB\-\-crt-only\fR.
.
.TP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-crt-only\fR
Causes \fBca-create-cert\fR to sign a pre-existing CSR using a pre-existing
X.509 extensions configuration, creating a valid certificate. When used in
conjunction with \fB\-\-cnf-only\fR, \fBca-create-cert\fR only generates the
X.509 extensions configuration, allowing the user to modify it before signing
the certificate. Mutually exclusive to \fB\-\-csr-only\fR.
.
.TP
\fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-cnf-only\fR
Causes \fBca-create-cert\fR to generate the openssl request and X.509
extensions configurations, without creating a CSR or signing it. When used in
conjunction with either of the previous two options, causes only one of the two
configuration files to be generated.
.
.SS Distinguished Name (DN) options
These options allow the user to change the value of various DN fields. Be careful
about changing the C and O fields, as by default the CA configuration requires
these to match the fields in the CA certificate when the CSR is signed. By
default these values are taken from the ca-scripts configuration file, and will
match those of the CA certificate. The certificate's common name (CN) is set by
the mandatory host or user name parameter.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-country \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the country (C) field of the DN.
.TP
\fB\-\-state \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the state (ST) field of the DN.
.TP
\fB\-\-loc \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the locality (L) field of the DN.
.TP
\fB\-\-org \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the organization (O) field of the DN.
.TP
\fB\-\-ounit \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the organizational unit (OU) field of the DN.
.TP
\fB\-\-email \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the e-mail address (E) field of the DN.
.TP
\fB\-\-comment \fI"STRING"\fR
Sets the nsComment X.509 extension.
.
.SH CERTIFICATE TYPES
.SS Server certificates
.PP
\fIServer\fR certificates are used for securing SSL/TLS services, such as
TLS-encrypted LDAP connections or HTTPS. In this case the \fIhostname\fR
argument is used for the Common Name in the certificate, and any additional
alternative names supplied by \fB-n\fR are added to the X.509v3 
\fIsubjectAltName\fR extension field.  


.SS Client certificates
.PP
\fIClient\fR certificates are used for authenticating to SSL/TLS services. 
For the most part they are intended to be used by automated systems to identify
and authenticate themselves to services they interact with.
.PP
.SS User certificates
\fIUser\fR certificates are for individuals to authenticate themselves to 
SSL/TLS services in the same manner as client certificates, but they may also 
be used for S/MIME e-mail encryption and code signing.