grid-ca-create(1)

NAME

grid-ca-create - Create a CA to sign certificates for use on a grid

SYNOPSIS

grid-ca-create [ -h | -help | -usage | -version | -versions ] [ -openssl-help]

grid-ca-create [ OPTIONS ] [ OPENSSL-OPTIONS ]

DESCRIPTION

The grid-ca-create program creates a self-signed CA certificate and related files needed to use the CA with other Globus tools. The grid-ca-create program prompts for information to use to generate the CA certificate, but the prompts may be avoided by using the command line options.

By default, the grid-ca-create program creates the self-signed CA certificate, installs it on the current machine in its trusted certificate directory, and creates a source tarball which can be used to generate an RPM package for the CA. If the RPM package is installed on a machine, users on that machine can create certificate requests for user, host, or service identity certificates to be signed by the CA certificate generated by running grid-ca-create.

If run as a privileged user, the grid-ca-create program creates the CA certificate and support files in the CA certificate and signing policy are installed in the /etc/grid-security directory. Otherwise, the files are

OPTIONS

The full set of command-line options to grid-ca-create follows. In addition to these, unknown options will be passed to the openssl command when creating the self-signed certificate.

-help, -h, -usage: Display the command-line options to grid-ca-create and exit.

-version, -versions: Display the version number of the grid-ca-create command. The second form includes more details.

-force: Overwrite existing CA in the destination directory if one exists.

-bits BITS: Create a CA certificate with a BITS long RSA key [4096]

-noint: Run in non-interactive mode. This will choose defaults for parameters or those specified on the command line without prompting. This option also implies -force.

-dir DIRECTORY: Create the CA in DIRECTORY. The DIRECTORY must not exist prior to running grid-ca-create.

-subject SUBJECT: Use SUBJECT as the subject name of the self-signed CA to create. If this is not specified on the command-line, grid-ca-create will default to using the subject name cn=Globus Simple CA, ou=$HOSTNAME, ou=GlobusTest, o=Grid.

-email ADDRESS: Use ADDRESS as the email address of the CA. The default instructions generated by grid-ca-create tell users to mail the certificate request to this address. If this is not specified on the command-line, grid-ca-create will default to $LOGNAME@$HOSTNAME.

-days DAYS: Set the default lifetime of the self-signed CA certificate to DAYS. If not set, the grid-ca-create program will default to 1825 days (5 years).

-pass PASSWORD: Use the string PASSWORD to protect the CA’s private key. This is useful for automating Simple CA, but may make it easier to compromise the CA if someone obtains a shell on the machine storing the CA’s private key.

-nobuild: Disable building a source tarball for distributing the CA’s public information to other machines. The source tarball can be created later by using the grid-ca-package command.

EXAMPLES

Create a simple CA in $HOME/SimpleCA:

% grid-ca-create -noint -dir $HOME/SimpleCA

C e r t i f i c a t e    A u t h o r i t y    S e t u p

This script will setup a Certificate Authority for signing Globus
users certificates.  It will also generate a simple CA package
that can be distributed to the users of the CA.

The CA information about the certificates it distributes will
be kept in:

/home/juser/SimpleCA

The unique subject name for this CA is:

cn=Globus Simple CA, ou=simpleCA-grid.example.org, ou=GlobusTest, o=Grid

Insufficient permissions to install CA into the trusted certifiicate
directory (tried ${sysconfdir}/grid-security/certificates and
${datadir}/certificates)
Creating RPM source tarball... done
  globus_simple_ca_0146c503.tar.gz

ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables affect the execution of grid-ca-create:

GLOBUS_LOCATION

Non-standard installation path of the Grid Community Toolkit.