=head1 NAME
crlpublish - CRL publisher configuration syntax
=head1 DESCRIPTION
crlpublish is a utility for pushing CRL updates to one or more target servers
where other applications and processes pick them up. These are commonly
referred to as Issuing Distribution Points and should ideally be encoded
into the CRLs and CA certificates themselves.
Often, there is not enough information encoded in the CRL and in the operating
environment to deduce how this publishing should be accomplished. In those
cases, details must be provided through configuration files. Their format,
syntax, and usage are documented here.
=head1 CONFIG FILE LOCATIONS
Configuration files should be placed in one of these directories:
=over
=item *
/etc/crlpublish/*.cfg
=item *
$HOME/.crlpublish/*.cfg
=back
Additionally, as in-situ compatibility with the older crlpublisher.sh script
is supported, the following directories are scanned for legacy config files:
=over
=item *
/etc/crlpublisher/*.conf
=item *
$HOME/.crlpublisher/*.conf
=back
There is no particular naming convention required, nor even a need to use more
than one file. Any file with the proper extension will be imported, in
directory order.
=head1 CONFIG FILE FORMAT
Although there is a notion of an old and a new file format, they are read in
by the same parser. Using "newness" in an old-style .conf file will generate
a runtime error.
Both file formats use a namedAttribute="value" basic syntax.
There the similarity ends. The old version was parsed by the shell, and so was
intolerant of whitespace and liberal about quoting and content. Backticks and
other shell language were legal, although it is not known if anyone ever used
such. crlpublish does not support this usage.
The new format is parsed by Perl, and so backticks are not permitted. Quotes
are optional, and whitespace is tolerated at the beginning and end of any line,
and between the variable, equals, and value. Extra space is dropped; if you
need control, use single or double quotes around the value.
Also, the new format supports sections using the ini style [sectionName] syntax.
The brackets are treated as quotes, and whitespace within is not dropped.
=head1 CONFIG FILE EXAMPLES
An example of the old syntax follows:
publisher=scp
remoteUser=crlowner
remoteHost=my.target.server.com
remoteLocation=crl/thisca.crl
privateKey=/path/to/ssh/privateKeyFile
issuerDn="CN=My CA,O=Example Inc.,C=ME"
A roughly equivalent example of the new syntax follows:
[defaults]
publishMethod=scp
remoteUser=crlowner
[CN=My CA,O=Example Inc.,C=ME]
remotePath=crl
remoteFile=thisca.crl
remoteHost=crl.target.server.com
[crl.target.server.com]
remoteHost=crl-1.target.server.com,crl-2.target.server.com
Note that such verbosity is not generally required, as will be explained
below, and there is some redundancy to illustrate capabilities. The section
for my.target.server.com needn't exist; the comma-separated list could have
been specified above in the defaults, or in the issuerDn section.
=head1 RUNTIME CONFIG RESOLVING ORDER
In point of fact, any of those variables could have appeared in any of those
sections, and the configuration parser would happily import and supply them
at the appropriate point in the resolution order; see below.
Cascaded defaults are supported by creating a container object and copying
the configuration name-value pairs into that container in a particular order,
allowing attributes of the same name to overwrite earlier values.
First, fixed defaults are applied. At present, this is only publishMethod=scp.
Next, the parsed parts of the Issuing Distribution Point URL, if any, are
copied in, followed by all values in the [defaults] section. Then, the values
from the issuerDn section are copied in. Finally, values from the remoteHost
section are copied in.
In this way, it is often unnecessary to supply any configuration at all, if
the Issuing Distribution Point is supplied in the CRL. See below for defaults.
It is also worth noting that attributes can be named anything and will be
passed into the container object. No core code changes will be required to
support new attributes for new publishing methods. It is up to the
publishMethod implementation to make meaning of them.
=head1 ATTRIBUTE NAMES AND AND MEANINGS
=head2 Core Attributes
=head3 publishMethod
Specify the publishing method to use. Currently, only scp is supported.
=head2 Target Attributes
=head3 remoteFile
Specify the filename to publish the CRL as, since crlpublish was probably
invoked using a temporary file with a randomized name. If not specified,
it will be parsed from the CRL if available. If still not found, a
runtime error will be generated.
=head3 remoteHost
Specify the remote host to connect to. It can be a hostname, short or
long, or an address, IPv4 or IPv6. It will be passed verbatim to scp.
If not specified, it will be parsed from the CRL if available. If still
not found, a runtime error will be generated.
Multiple targets are supported by supplying a comma-separated list.
Whitespace around the commas is tolerated.
=head3 remotePath
Specify the subdirectory to place the remoteFile in. Relative paths are
relative to the remoteUser's home directory on the remoteHost. It must
exist. If not specified, it will be parsed from the CRL if available.
If still not found, a runtime error will be generated. Note that this
value can legally be empty, indicating the remoteUser@remoteHost's home
directory.
=head2 Authentication Attributes
=head3 privateKeyFile
Filename of a private key compatible with the publishMethod in use.
=head3 remoteUser
Specify the remote username to connect as. If not specified, none will
be specified on the command line, and scp will default to the current
user on the originating host.
=head2 Legacy Compatibility Attributes
=head3 issuerDn
Only meaningful in a legacy style config file; specifies the issuerDn
to which that config file refers. The new config syntax specifies this
in a section name.
=head3 privateKey
Equivalent to privateKeyFile.
=head3 publisher
Equivalent to publishMethod.
=head3 remoteLocation
Combines remotePath and remoteFile into a single directive. Parsed
at config-read time and stored internally as remotePath and remoteFile.
=head1 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
crlpublish requires a CA that publishes CRLs by calling a script, such
as EJBCA. Also, you will need a reasonably recent copy of Perl.
The openssl binary must be present on the sending host, and should
also be present on the target hosts.
The scp publishing method requires ssh and scp to be installed on the
local (CA) and remote (CRL distributing) hosts.
=head1 INSTALLING CRLPUBLISH
The easiest way is to run the 'cpan' tool and type:
install EJBCA::CrlPublish
=head1 INSTALLATION TASKS WITH EJBCA
This list presumes you have already set up your PKI, and that you have
configured the correct CRL Issuing Distribution Point URL into the CRL
via its CA certificate, and that you have installed crlpublish.
=over
=item 1.
Set up user accounts.
If your goal is to make life as easy as possible, create an account on the
target server(s) with the same username as the CA runs under.
Create an SSH key on the CA host, and install its public key on the target.
=item 2.
Set up publishing directory on target server(s).
This is really web server administration, mostly. Create the directory, and
make sure the user you created above can write to it.
Create a symlink, or directory tree ending in a symlink, in the target user's
home directory, matching the path (but not file) portion of the issuing URL.
The goal is that if, with CWD equal to the home directory, you were to write
to a filename like "path/to/rootca.crl", it would land in that directory.
=item 3.
Configure crlpublish.
If you've followed these steps, you don't need any configuration, unless you
have high-availability CRL distribution servers. If so, create the following
file in the home directory of the CA server instance:
$HOME/.crlpublish/targets.cfg
with the following contents:
[targetNameFromUrl.example.com]
remoteHost=realtarget1.example.com,realtarget2.example.com
Make sure this file is readable by the CA server process.
=item 4.
Set up the CRL Publisher in the EJBCA Administration Pages.
=over
=item a.
Create a new publisher, perhaps named "CRL Publisher".
=item b.
Edit the newly created publisher.
=item c.
Change the type to "Custom Publisher".
=item d.
Add the following to the Properties box:
crl.application /usr/bin/crlpublish
crl.failOnStandardError false
crl.failOnErrorCode true
=item e.
Make sure the "Use queue for certificates" box is unchecked.
=item f.
Make sure the "Use queue for CRLs" box is checked.
=item g.
Click "Save".
=back
=item 5.
Activate the publisher in each CA and each Certificate Profile.
This is left as an exercise for the user. Check http://ejbca.org.
=back
=head1 AUTHOR
Kevin Cody-Little <kcody@cpan.org>