---
name: "dnssec-makekeyset"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "bind9"
version: "1:9.2.4-1sarge3"
release: "Debian 3.1 (Sarge)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dnssec-makekeyset"
---

# dnssec-makekeyset(8)

DNSSEC zone signing tool

## NAME

dnssec-makekeyset - DNSSEC zone signing tool

## SYNOPSIS

**dnssec-makekeyset** \[ **-a** \]  \[ **-s** *start-time* \]  \[ **-e** *end-time* \]  \[ **-h** \]  \[ **-p** \]  \[ **-r** *randomdev* \]  \[ **-t***ttl* \]  \[ **-v** *level* \]  **key***...*

## DESCRIPTION

**dnssec-makekeyset** generates a key set from one or more keys created by **dnssec-keygen**. It creates a file containing a KEY record for each key, and self-signs the key set with each zone key. The output file is of the form *keyset-nnnn.*, where *nnnn* is the zone name.

## OPTIONS

- **-a**

  Verify all generated signatures.

- **-s** *start-time*

  Specify the date and time when the generated SIG records become valid. This can be either an absolute or relative time. An absolute start time is indicated by a number in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS notation; 20000530144500 denotes 14:45:00 UTC on May 30th, 2000. A relative start time is indicated by +N, which is N seconds from the current time. If no **start-time** is specified, the current time is used.

- **-e** *end-time*

  Specify the date and time when the generated SIG records expire. As with **start-time**, an absolute time is indicated in YYYYMMDDHHMMSS notation. A time relative to the start time is indicated with +N, which is N seconds from the start time. A time relative to the current time is indicated with now+N. If no **end-time** is specified, 30 days from the start time is used as a default.

- **-h**

  Prints a short summary of the options and arguments to **dnssec-makekeyset**.

- **-p**

  Use pseudo-random data when signing the zone. This is faster, but less secure, than using real random data. This option may be useful when signing large zones or when the entropy source is limited.

- **-r** *randomdev*

  Specifies the source of randomness. If the operating system does not provide a */dev/random* or equivalent device, the default source of randomness is keyboard input. *randomdev* specifies the name of a character device or file containing random data to be used instead of the default. The special value *keyboard* indicates that keyboard input should be used.

- **-t** *ttl*

  Specify the TTL (time to live) of the KEY and SIG records. The default is 3600 seconds.

- **-v** *level*

  Sets the debugging level.

- **key**

  The list of keys to be included in the keyset file. These keys are expressed in the form *Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii* as generated by **dnssec-keygen**.

## EXAMPLE

The following command generates a keyset containing the DSA key for **example.com** generated in the **dnssec-keygen** man page.

**dnssec-makekeyset -t 86400 -s 20000701120000 -e +2592000 Kexample.com.+003+26160**

In this example, **dnssec-makekeyset** creates the file *keyset-example.com.*. This file contains the specified key and a self-generated signature.

The DNS administrator for **example.com** could send *keyset-example.com.* to the DNS administrator for **.com** for signing, if the .com zone is DNSSEC-aware and the administrators of the two zones have some mechanism for authenticating each other and exchanging the keys and signatures securely.

## SEE ALSO

[**dnssec-keygen**(8)](/dnssec-keygen/8.md), [**dnssec-signkey**(8)](/dnssec-signkey/8.md), *BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual*, *RFC 2535*.

## AUTHOR

Internet Systems Consortium