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334 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
334 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
# Step Certificates
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An online certificate authority and related tools for secure automated certificate management, so you can use TLS everywhere.
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[Website](https://smallstep.com) |
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[Documentation](https://smallstep.com/docs/certificates) |
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[Installation Guide](#installation-guide) |
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[Getting Started](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md) |
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[Contribution Guide](./docs/CONTRIBUTING.md)
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[](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/releases)
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[](https://gitter.im/smallstep/community)
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[](https://microbadger.com/images/smallstep/step-ca)
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[](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/smallstep/certificates)
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[](https://travis-ci.com/smallstep/certificates)
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[](https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0)
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[](https://cla-assistant.io/smallstep/certificates)
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[](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/stargazers)
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[](https://twitter.com/intent/follow?screen_name=smallsteplabs)
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## Motivation
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Managing your own *public key infrastructure* (PKI) can be tedious and error
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prone. Good security hygiene is hard. Setting up simple PKI is out of reach for
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many small teams, and following best practices like proper certificate
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revocation and rolling is challenging even for experts.
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Amongst numerous use cases, proper PKI makes it easy to use mTLS (mutual TLS)
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to improve security and to make it possible to connect services across the
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public internet. Unlike VPNs & SDNs, deploying and scaling mTLS is pretty
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easy. You're (hopefully) already using TLS, and your existing tools and
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standard libraries will provide most of what you need. If you know how to
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operate DNS and reverse proxies, you know how to operate mTLS
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infrastructure.
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There's just one problem: **you need certificates issued by your own
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certificate authority (CA)**. Building and operating a CA, issuing
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certificates, and making sure they're renewed before they expire is tricky.
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This project provides the infratructure, automations, and workflows you'll
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need.
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`step certificates` is part of smallstep's broader security architecture, which
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makes it much easier to implement good security practices early, and
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incrementally improve them as your system matures.
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For more information and docs see [the Step
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website](https://smallstep.com/certificates) and the [blog
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post](https://smallstep.com/blog/step-certificates.html) announcing Step
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Certificate Authority.
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> ## 🆕 Autocert <a href="autocert/README.md"><img width="50%" src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smallstep/certificates/autocert/autocert/autocert-logo.png"></a>
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>
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> If you're using Kubernetes, make sure you [check out
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> autocert](autocert/README.md): a kubernetes add-on that builds on `step
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> certificates` to automatically inject TLS/HTTPS certificates into your containers.
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## Installation Guide
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These instructions will install an OS specific version of the `step-ca` binary on
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your local machine.
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> NOTE: While `step` is not required to run the Step Certificate Authority (CA)
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> we strongly recommend installing both `step cli` and `step certificates`
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> because the Step CA is much easier to initialize, manage, and debug using
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> the `step cli` toolkit.
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### Mac OS
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Install `step` via [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/). The
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[Homebrew Formula](https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/step.rb)
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installs both `step cli` and `step certificates`.
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ brew install step</b>
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# Test installation ...
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<b>$ step certificate inspect https://smallstep.com</b>
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Certificate:
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Data:
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Version: 3 (0x2)
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Serial Number: 326381749415081530968054238478851085504954 (0x3bf265673332db2d0c70e48a163fb7d11ba)
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Signature Algorithm: SHA256-RSA
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Issuer: C=US,O=Let's Encrypt,CN=Let's Encrypt Authority X3
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...
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</code></pre>
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> Note: If you have installed `step` previously through the `smallstep/smallstep`
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> tap you will need to run the following commands before installing:
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```
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$ brew untap smallstep/smallstep
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$ brew uninstall step
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```
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### Linux
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1. [Optional] Install `step cli`.
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Download the latest Debian package from
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[`step cli` releases](https://github.com/smallstep/cli/releases):
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```
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$ wget https://github.com/smallstep/cli/releases/download/X.Y.Z/step_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb
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```
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Install the Debian package:
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```
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$ sudo dpkg -i step_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb
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```
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2. Install `step certificates`.
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Download the latest Debian package from
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[`step certificates` releases](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/releases):
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```
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$ wget https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/releases/download/X.Y.Z/step-certificates_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb
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```
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Install the Debian package:
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```
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$ sudo dpkg -i step-certificates_X.Y.Z_amd64.deb
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```
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3. Test.
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ step version</b>
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Smallstep CLI/0.8.5 (darwin/amd64)
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Release Date: 2019-02-13 22:17 UTC
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<b>$ step-ca version</b>
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Smallstep CA/0.8.4 (darwin/amd64)
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Release Date: 2019-02-18 18:56 UTC
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</code></pre>
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## Quickstart
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In the following guide we'll run a simple `hello` server that requires clients
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to connect over an authorized and encrypted channel (HTTP over TLS). The Step
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Certificate Authority (CA) will issue an identity dial tone to our server
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enabling it to authenticate and encrypt communication. Let's get started!
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### Prerequisites
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* [`step`](#installation-guide)
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* [golang](https://golang.org/doc/install)
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### Let's get started!
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1. Initialize and run the Step CA.
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`step ca init` initializes the CA and accomplishes two tasks.
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1. Generate a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) with Root and Intermediate
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X.509 Certificates and private keys.
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The root X.509 Certificate is a fancy public key that will be
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distributed to clients enabling them to authenticate all certificates
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generated by your PKI. The root private key should be kept in a very
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private place - but as this is just a demo we won't worry about that
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right now ([more info on storing sensitive
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data](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md#passwords)). The intermediate
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private key will be used to sign new certificates ([Why is it more
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secure to use intermediate CA
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certificates?](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/128779/why-is-it-more-secure-to-use-intermediate-ca-certificates))
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and the intermediate certificate will be distributed along with newly
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minted leaf certificates. In our demo, the server will present the
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intermediate certificate along with it's *server* (leaf) certificate
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allowing our client to validate the full chain using the root.
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2. Generate the configuration file required by the Step CA.
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See the [Getting Started](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md) guide for an in depth
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explanation of the Step CA configuration file.
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ step ca init</b>
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✔ What would you like to name your new PKI? (e.g. Smallstep): <b>Example Inc.</b>
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✔ What DNS names or IP addresses would you like to add to your new CA? (e.g. ca.smallstep.com[,1.1.1.1,etc.]): <b>localhost</b>
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✔ What address will your new CA listen at? (e.g. :443): <b>127.0.0.1:8080</b>
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✔ What would you like to name the first provisioner for your new CA? (e.g. you@smallstep.com): <b>bob@example.com</b>
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✔ What do you want your password to be? [leave empty and we'll generate one]: <b>abc123</b>
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Generating root certificate...
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all done!
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Generating intermediate certificate...
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all done!
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✔ Root certificate: /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/certs/root_ca.crt
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✔ Root private key: /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/secrets/root_ca_key
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✔ Root fingerprint: 702a094e239c9eec6f0dcd0a5f65e595bf7ed6614012825c5fe3d1ae1b2fd6ee
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✔ Intermediate certificate: /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/certs/intermediate_ca.crt
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✔ Intermediate private key: /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/secrets/intermediate_ca_key
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✔ Default configuration: /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/config/defaults.json
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✔ Certificate Authority configuration: /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/config/ca.json
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Your PKI is ready to go. To generate certificates for individual services see 'step help ca'.
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<b>$ step-ca $(step path)/config/ca.json</b>
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Please enter the password to decrypt /Users/bob/src/github.com/smallstep/step/.step/secrets/intermediate_ca_key: <b>abc123</b>
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2019/02/18 13:28:58 Serving HTTPS on 127.0.0.1:8080 ...
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</code></pre>
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Now we've got an 'up and running' online CA!
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2. Copy our `hello world` golang server.
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```
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$ cat > srv.go <<EOF
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package main
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import (
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"net/http"
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"log"
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)
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func HiHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
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w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain")
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w.Write([]byte("Hello, world!\n"))
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}
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func main() {
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http.HandleFunc("/hi", HiHandler)
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err := http.ListenAndServeTLS(":8443", "srv.crt", "srv.key", nil)
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if err != nil {
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log.Fatal(err)
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}
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}
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EOF
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```
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3. Get an identity for your server from the Step CA.
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ step ca certificate localhost srv.crt srv.key</b>
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✔ Key ID: rQxROEr7Kx9TNjSQBTETtsu3GKmuW9zm02dMXZ8GUEk (bob@example.com)
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✔ Please enter the password to decrypt the provisioner key: abc123
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✔ CA: https://localhost:8080/1.0/sign
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✔ Certificate: srv.crt
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✔ Private Key: srv.key
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<b>$ step certificate inspect --bundle srv.crt</b>
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Certificate:
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Data:
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Version: 3 (0x2)
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Serial Number: 140439335711218707689123407681832384336 (0x69a7a1d7f6f22f68059d2d9088307750)
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Signature Algorithm: ECDSA-SHA256
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Issuer: CN=Example Inc. Intermediate CA
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Validity
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Not Before: Feb 18 21:32:35 2019 UTC
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Not After : Feb 19 21:32:35 2019 UTC
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Subject: CN=localhost
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...
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Certificate:
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Data:
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Version: 3 (0x2)
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Serial Number: 207035091234452090159026162349261226844 (0x9bc18217bd560cf07db23178ed90835c)
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Signature Algorithm: ECDSA-SHA256
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Issuer: CN=Example Inc. Root CA
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Validity
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Not Before: Feb 18 21:27:21 2019 UTC
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Not After : Feb 15 21:27:21 2029 UTC
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Subject: CN=Example Inc. Intermediate CA
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...
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</code></pre>
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Notice that when you inspect `srv.crt` there are actually two certificates
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present. The first is your **server** (leaf) certificate and the second is
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the intermediate certificate. When an intermediate CA is used to sign
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**leaf** certificates it is not enough for the server to only show it's
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**leaf** certificate because the client (which only has access to the root
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certificate) will not be able to validate the full chain.
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4. Run the simple server.
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ go run srv.go &</b>
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</code></pre>
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5. Get the root certificate from the Step CA.
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In a new Terminal window:
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ step ca root root.crt</b>
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The root certificate has been saved in root.crt.
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</code></pre>
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6. Make an authenticated, encrypted curl request to your server using HTTP over TLS.
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<pre><code>
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<b>$ curl --cacert root.crt https://localhost:8443/hi</b>
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Hello, world!
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</code></pre>
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*All Done!*
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Check out the [Getting Started](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md) guide for more examples
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and best practices on running Step CA in production.
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## Documentation
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Documentation can be found in three places:
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1. On the command line with `step ca help xxx` where `xxx` is the subcommand you are interested in. Ex: `step help ca provisioners list`
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2. On the web at https://smallstep.com/docs/certificates
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3. On your browser by running `step ca help --http :8080` and visiting http://localhost:8080
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## The Future
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We plan to build more tools that facilitate the use and management of zero trust
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networks.
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* Tell us what you like and don't like about managing your PKI - we're eager to
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help solve problems in this space.
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* Tell us what features you'd like to see - open issues or hit us on
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[Twitter](https://twitter.com/smallsteplabs).
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## Further Reading
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Check out the [Getting Started](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md) guide for more examples
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and best practices on running Step CA in production.
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