--- name: "ikectl" section: "8" platform: "linux" package: "openiked" version: "7.4-1" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux", "openbsd"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/ikectl" --- # ikectl(8) control the IKEv2 daemon ## NAME **ikectl** – control the IKEv2 daemon ## SYNOPSIS **ikectl** \[**-q**\] \[**-s** *socket*\] *command* \[*arg* *...*\] ## DESCRIPTION The **ikectl** program controls the [iked(8)](/iked/8.md) daemon and provides commands to maintain a simple X.509 certificate authority (CA) for IKEv2 peers. The options are as follows: - **-q** Don't ask for confirmation of any default options. - **-s** *socket* Use *socket* instead of the default */var/run/iked.sock* to communicate with [iked(8)](/iked/8.md). ## IKED CONTROL COMMANDS The following commands are available to control [iked(8)](/iked/8.md): - **active** Set [iked(8)](/iked/8.md) to active mode. - **passive** Set [iked(8)](/iked/8.md) to passive mode. In passive mode no packets are sent to peers and no connections are initiated by [iked(8)](/iked/8.md). - **couple** Load the negotiated security associations (SAs) and flows into the kernel. - **decouple** Unload the negotiated SAs and flows from the kernel. This mode is only useful for testing and debugging. - **load** *filename* Reload the configuration from the specified file. - **log** **brief** Disable verbose logging. - **log** **verbose** Enable verbose logging. - **monitor** Monitor internal messages of the [iked(8)](/iked/8.md) subsystems. - **reload** Reload the configuration from the default configuration file. - **reset** **all** Reset the running state. - **reset** **ca** Reset the X.509 CA and certificate state. - **reset** **policy** Flush the configured policies. - **reset** **sa** Flush the running SAs. - **reset** **user** Flush the local user database. - **reset** **id** *ikeid* Delete all IKE SAs with matching ID. - **show** **sa** Show internal state of active IKE SAs, Child SAs and IPsec flows. ## PKI AND CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY COMMANDS In order to use public key based authentication with IKEv2, a public key infrastructure (PKI) has to be set up to create and sign the peer certificates. **ikectl** includes commands to simplify maintenance of the PKI and to set up a simple certificate authority (CA) for [iked(8)](/iked/8.md) and its peers. The following commands are available to control the CA: - **ca** *name* **create** \[**password** *password*\] Create a new certificate authority with the specified *name*. The command will prompt for a CA password unless it is specified with the optional *password* argument. The password will be saved in a protected file *ikeca.passwd* in the CA directory and used for subsequent commands. - **ca** *name* **delete** Delete the certificate authority with the specified *name*. - **ca** *name* **export** \[**peer** *peer*\] \[**password** *password*\] Export the certificate authority with the specified *name* into the current directory for transport to other systems. This command will create a compressed tarball called *ca.tgz* in the local directory and optionally *ca.zip* if the ‘zip’ tool is installed. The optional *peer* argument can be used to specify the address or FQDN of the local gateway which will be written into a text file *peer.txt* and included in the archives. - **ca** *name* **install** \[*path*\] Install the certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) for CA *name* as the currently active CA or into the specified *path*. - **ca** *name* **certificate** *host* **create** \[**server** \| **client** \| **ocsp**\] Create a private key and certificate for *host* and sign then with the key of certificate authority with the specified *name*. The certificate will be valid for client and server authentication by default by setting both flags as the extended key usage in the certificate; this can be restricted using the optional **server** or **client** argument. If the **ocsp** argument is specified the extended key usage will be set for OCSP signing. - **ca** *name* **certificate** *host* **delete** Deletes the private key and certificates associated with *host*. - **ca** *name* **certificate** *host* **export** \[**peer** *peer*\] \[**password** *password*\] Export key files for *host* of the certificate authority with the specified *name* into the current directory for transport to other systems. This command will create a compressed tarball *host.tgz* in the local directory and optionally *host.zip* if the ‘zip’ tool is installed. The optional *peer* argument can be used to specify the address or FQDN of the local gateway which will be written into a text file *peer.txt* and included in the archives. - **ca** *name* **certificate** *host* **install** \[*path*\] Install the private and public key for *host* into the active configuration or specified *path*. - **ca** *name* **certificate** *host* **revoke** Revoke the certificate specified by *host* and generate a new Certificate Revocation List (CRL). - **show** **ca** *name* **certificates** \[*host*\] Display a listing of certificates associated with CA *name* or display certificate details if *host* is specified. - **ca** *name* **key** *host* **create** Create a private key for *host* if one does not already exist. - **ca** *name* **key** *host* **install** \[*path*\] Install the private and public keys for *host* into the active configuration or specified *path*. - **ca** *name* **key** *host* **delete** Delete the private key for *host*. - **ca** *name* **key** *host* **import** *file* Source the private key for *host* from the named *file*. ## FILES - */etc/iked/* Active configuration. - */etc/ssl/* Directory to store the CA files. - */usr/share/iked/* If this optional directory exists, **ikectl** will include the contents with the **ca** **export** commands. - */var/run/iked.sock* Default UNIX-domain socket used for communication with [iked(8)](/iked/8.md). ## EXAMPLES First create a new certificate authority: ``` # ikectl ca vpn create ``` Now create the certificates for the VPN peers. The specified hostname, either IP address or FQDN, will be saved in the signed certificate and has to match the IKEv2 identity, or *srcid*, of the peers: ``` # ikectl ca vpn certificate 10.1.2.3 create # ikectl ca vpn certificate 10.2.3.4 create # ikectl ca vpn certificate 10.3.4.5 create ``` It is possible that the host that was used to create the CA is also one of the VPN peers. In this case you can install the peer and CA certificates locally: ``` # ikectl ca vpn install # ikectl ca vpn certificate 10.1.2.3 install ``` Now export the individual host key, the certificate and the CA certificate to each other peer. First run the **export** command to create tarballs that include the required files: ``` # ikectl ca vpn certificate 10.2.3.4 export # ikectl ca vpn certificate 10.3.4.5 export ``` These commands will produce two tarballs *10.2.3.4.tgz* and *10.3.4.5.tgz*. Copy these tarballs over to the appropriate peers and extract them to the */etc/iked/* directory: ``` 10.2.3.4# tar -C /etc/iked -xzpf 10.2.3.4.tgz 10.3.4.5# tar -C /etc/iked -xzpf 10.3.4.5.tgz ``` **ikectl** will also create ‘zip’ archives 10.2.3.4.zip and 10.3.4.5.zip in addition to the tarballs if the zip tool is found in */usr/local/bin/zip*. These archives can be exported to peers running Windows and will include the certificates in a format that is supported by the OS. The zip tool can be installed from the OpenBSD packages or ports collection before running the **export** commands, see [packages(7)](/packages/7.md) for more information. For example: ``` # pkg_add zip ``` ## SEE ALSO [packages(7)](/packages/7.md), [iked(8)](/iked/8.md), [ssl(8)](/ssl/8.md) ## HISTORY The **ikectl** program first appeared in OpenBSD 4.8. ## AUTHORS The **ikectl** program was written by Reyk Floeter ⟨*reyk@openbsd.org*⟩ and Jonathan Gray ⟨*jsg@openbsd.org*⟩. ## CAVEATS For ease of use, the **ca** commands maintain all peers' private keys on the CA machine. In contrast to a ‘real’ CA, it does not support signing of public keys that have been imported from peers that do not want to expose their private keys to the CA.