Certificate Authority
Dogtag Certificate System

Configure Dogtag Certificate System

11min

This section shows you how to install Dogtag Certificate System on Fedora Linux 28. The example demonstrates the installation of a CA subsystem by using a self-signed CA signing certificate, with the certificates and their corresponding keys securely stored in .

Install the Dogtag packages

1

Install the Dogtag packages by using the following command:

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Create the Directory Server instance

The Dogtag CA and KRA subsystems use a 389 Directory Server as an internal database. Perform the following steps to create the Directory Server instance for the Dogtag Internal DB:

1

Run the following command to log in as the root user:

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2

To set a FQDN (fully qualified domain name) as the hostname for your Fedora 28 system, edit the /etc/hosts file as follows:

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You can set any valid FQDN, not justpki.example.com.

You must also run the following command to update the hostname in the /etc/hostname file.

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3

Create a directory for storing the 389 Directory Server configuration file:

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4

Create a configuration file named setup.inf in the /etc/389-ds directory with the [General] and [slapd] sections configured as follows:

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5

Run the directory server installation script, selecting the defaults or customizing as desired:

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Create a subsystem instance

The next step in the process is to run the pkispawn script to create and configure a subsystem instance.

The pkispawn command line tool installs and configures a new PKI instance. It eliminates the need for separate installation and configuration steps, and may be run either interactively, as a batch process, or a combination of both (batch process with prompts for passwords). Refer to the pkispawn man page for detailed information about all supported options by running man pkispawn. The pkispawn command reads in its default installation and configuration values from a plain text configuration file (/etc/pki/default.cfg). This file consists of name=value pairs divided into [DEFAULT], [Tomcat], [CA], [KRA], [OCSP], [TKS], and [TPS] sections.

We strongly recommend that you read the full documentation to understand the purpose of every parameter in the /etc/pki/default.cfg file. This enables you to customize your PKI environment to your specific needs.

To spawn a subsystem that uses an HSM, Dogtag recommends creating an override configuration file that contains only the parameters necessary for using the as its token. Any parameter settings in this file override the parameter settings in the default.cfg file. You can spawn any of the various Dogtag PKI subsystems (CA, KRA, OCSP, TKS, TPS) to use the , but this integration guide focuses on the Certificate Authority (CA) for brevity.

Perform the following tasks:

  1. Prepare an override configuration file with the required HSM parameters.
  2. Run the pkispawn utility.
  3. View the keys and certificates that Dogtag created in the .
  4. Import the CA administrator PKCS #12 file into the browser.
  5. Access the new CA subsystem in the browser.

Prepare a configuration file

Perform the following steps to prepare an override configuration file with the required HSM parameters:

1

Create the override configuration file for the CA subsystem.

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2

The following is an example override file that can be used for spawning a CA subsystem with the :

All values contained within angle brackets need to be set to a specific value by the user. All other values should be set exactly as shown.

The pki_ds_password value must match the password set for the directory manager when 389 Directory Server was installed.

The pki_token_password value must be set to the identity password configured inside the <CRYPTO-OPR-PASS> tag in the fxpkcs11.cfg file.

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3

After you have finished editing, save the file.

Run the pkispawn utility

Perform the following steps to run the pkispawn utility:

1

In a terminal, run the following command to deploy a CA subsystem using the .

The full path to the ca.cfg file is required if you are not running the command from the directory where the ca.cfg file is saved.

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You will most likely see a warning message about manually adding a module while p11-kit is enabled. You can disregard this warning and press Enter to continue.

2

If the deployment is successful, an installation summary similar to the following will be presented after the command completes:

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If the pkispawn command fails, you need to run the following command to delete the subsystem instance that was only partially created before re-attempting to run pkispawn.

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View the keys and certificates

To view the keys and certificates that Dogtag created on the , use the PKCS11Manager utility packaged with the PKCS #11 module. Perform the following steps:

1

In a terminal, navigate to the directory where the FXPKCS11 module is installed (/usr/local/bin/fxpkcs11) and run PKCS11Manager by using the following command:

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This presents the following main menu:

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2

Enter 1 to find all objects, and select the Enter key.

3

Enter 2 to log in, and select the Enter key.

4

Enter the password of the identity that is defined in the FXPKCS11 configuration file, and select the Enter key. If successful, you receive confirmation that you are logged in.

5

Enter 5 to find objects, and select the Enter key.

6

Enter 1 to find all objects, and select the Enter key. Information prints for all keys and certificates that the connecting identity has access to.

Dogtag PKI creates 15 objects in for a CA subsystem deployment.

Import the PKCS #12 file

The following steps use a Firefox web browser. The steps might vary when using a different browser, but the overall process is the same.

Perform the following steps to import the CA administrator PKCS #12 file into the browser:

1

In Firefox, go to Preferences > Privacy & Security > Certificates and select [ View Certificates ].

2

Under the Your Certificates tab, select [ Import ] to import the CA Administrator PKCS #12 file (for example, ca_admin_cert.p12). When it prompts for a password, enter the value that was configured for the pki_client_pkcs12_password define in the ca.cfg file.

The location of the ca_admin_cert.p12 file is in the installation summary for the CA subsystem deployment.

Access the CA subsystem

Perform the following steps to access the new CA subsystem in the browser:

1

Access the Dogtag Certificate System subsystem console by going to the following URL:

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When submitting Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) in Dogtag Certificate System, you must use both the Common Name and UID fields. If you submit a request with only the Common Name field completed, the request fails, and you receive an error stating that the Subject Name does not match.



This completes the instructions for the Dogtag Certificate System integration with the Futurex . All CA subsystem keys are secured within and available to the Dogtag Certificate System when you need to use them.