--- title: "Self-Hosted Certificate Manager" date: 2024-08-01T20:00:00+02:00 weight: 2 cascade: type: docs --- ## Sources - [Official documentation](https://smallstep.com/docs/tutorials/) - [Step-CA as a systemd service](https://angrysysadmins.tech/index.php/2022/09/grassyloki/step-ca-run-as-a-systemd-service/) - [Certificate management with OpenSSL](https://www.golinuxcloud.com/tutorial-pki-certificates-authority-ocsp/) ## About Step-CA Step-CA is a toolset developed by Smallstep, a company specializing in secure identity management and certificate automation. Its mission is to simplify setting up and managing your own certificate authorities (CAs). ### Key features 1. Certificate authority management: easily configure and manage your own CAs. Create root and intermediate CAs, issue certificates, and handle revocations. 2. Secure key management: follows best practices for securely storing and managing keys, so your cryptographic keys stay protected from unauthorized access. 3. Automation and scalability: works for small to large-scale deployments. APIs and integrations automate certificate issuance, renewal, and revocation across the lifecycle. 4. Modern cryptography: Step-CA supports industry-standard X.509 certificates using modern cryptographic algorithms and protocols for encryption and digital signatures. 5. Infrastructure integration: integrates with your existing tools and systems, and supports various authentication methods such as username/password, MFA, and external identity providers. 6. Auditability and compliance: comprehensive logging and auditing let you track certificate activity and meet compliance requirements. 7. Developer-friendly APIs: APIs and SDKs designed for developers make it easy to integrate certificate management into your applications and custom workflows. Step-CA by Smallstep is built to make certificate authority management straightforward: you manage your certificates' lifecycle while keeping your infrastructure protected. ## Installation ### Binary installation #### 1. Step CLI ```bash wget https://dl.step.sm/gh-release/cli/docs-cli-install/v0.24.3/step-cli_0.24.3_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i step-cli_0.24.3_amd64.deb ``` #### 2. Step-CA ```bash wget https://dl.step.sm/gh-release/certificates/docs-ca-install/v0.24.1/step-ca_0.24.1_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i step-ca_0.24.1_amd64.deb ``` #### 3. Creating a dedicated user ```bash adduser adminCA ``` #### Configuration ```bash $ step ca init --password-file=password.txt ✔ Deployment type: Standalone What would you like to name your new PKI? ✔ (e.g. Smallstep) : Lab ✔ (e.g. ca.example.com[,10.1.2.3,etc.]) : ca.lab.loc, localhost, 192.168.1.101 What IP and port will your new CA bind to? (:443 will bind to 0.0.0.0:443). 1.101 ✔ (e.g. :443 or 127.0.0.1:443) : :443 What would you like to name the CA's first provisioner? ✔ (e.g. you@smallstep.com) : contact@lab.loc Choose a password for your CA keys and the first provisioner. ✔ [leave empty and we will generate one] : Generating root certificate... done! Generating intermediate certificate... done! ✔ Root certificate: /home/adminCA/.step/certs/root_ca.crt ✔ Root private key: /home/adminCA/.step/secrets/root_ca_key ✔ Root fingerprint: 7d754397c6897aa87d21e33c64daad7be087dc6fe18bf04627848ae1c8e26a4f ✔ Intermediate certificate: /home/adminCA/.step/certs/intermediate_ca.crt ✔ Intermediate private key: /home/adminCA/.step/secrets/intermediate_ca_key ✔ Database folder: /home/adminCA/.step/db ✔ Default configuration: /home/adminCA/.step/config/defaults.json ✔ Certificate Authority configuration: /home/adminCA/.step/config/ca.json Your PKI is ready to go. To generate certificates for individual services, see `step help ca`. **Feedback:** The step utility is not instrumented for usage statistics. It does not contact a central server. Your feedback is, however, extremely valuable! Please consider writing to feedback@smallstep.com, joining GitHub Discussions, or joining us on Discord at [https://u.step.sm/discord](https://u.step.sm/discord). ``` Start Step-CA: ```bash step-ca .step/config/ca.json ``` #### Enable ACME ```bash $ step ca provisioner add acme --type ACME ✔ CA Configuration: /home/adminCA/.step/config/ca.json Success! Your `step-ca` configuration has been updated. To pick up the new configuration, send a SIGHUP (kill -1 ) or restart the step-ca process. ``` #### Running Step-CA as a systemd service Create a file: ```bash vim /etc/systemd/system/step-ca.service ``` Paste in the following: ```config [Unit] Description=step-ca After=syslog.target network.target [Service] User=adminCA Group=adminCA ExecStart=/bin/sh -c '/bin/step-ca /home/adminCA/.step/config/ca.json --password-file=/home/step/.step/pwd >> /var/log/step-ca/output.log 2>&1' Type=simple Restart=on-failure RestartSec=10 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ``` Create the log directory: ```bash mkdir -p /var/log/step-ca chown -R adminCA:adminCA /var/log/step-ca ``` Reload the systemd daemon: ```bash systemctl daemon-reload systemctl start step-ca.service ``` ### Docker installation ```bash docker run -it -v step:/home/step \ -p 9000:9000 \ -e "DOCKER_STEPCA_INIT_NAME=Lab" \ -e "DOCKER_STEPCA_INIT_DNS_NAMES=caserver.lab.loc,localhost,192.168.1.101" \ -e "DOCKER_STEPCA_INIT_REMOTE_MANAGEMENT=true" \ -e "DOCKER_STEPCA_INIT_ACME=true" \ smallstep/step-ca ``` ## Accessing the CA from another client > [!NOTE] Adjust the port based on your installation: > > - **Binary:** port **443** > - **Docker:** port **9000** Install the Step CLI: ```bash wget https://dl.step.sm/gh-release/cli/docs-cli-install/v0.24.3/step-cli_0.24.3_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i step-cli_0.24.3_amd64.deb ``` Initialize your CA: ```bash step ca bootstrap --ca-url https://caserver.lab.loc:$PORT/ --fingerprint 685059c30eb305db5272a7a199a2b5823624d55c732121ac65c06b0915d3c887 ``` > [!TIP] To get the **fingerprint**, simply run: > > ```bash > step certificate fingerprint $(step path)/certs/root_ca.crt > ``` > > For Docker, check the container logs. Example output: ```bash admin@User:~$ step ca bootstrap --ca-url https://caserver.lab.loc:$PORT --fingerprint 685059c30eb305db5272a7a199a2b5823624d55c732121ac65c06b0915d3c887 The root certificate has been saved in /home/admin/.step/certs/root_ca.crt. The authority configuration has been saved in /home/admin/.step/config/defaults.json. ``` Install the certificate: ```bash step certificate install $(step path)/certs/root_ca.crt ``` --- > [!TIP] **Installation on Debian:** > > - Copy the individual CRT files (PEM format) into `/usr/local/share/ca-certificates/` > - The files must be owned by `root:root` with `644` permissions > - Make sure the `ca-certificates` package is installed (if not, install it) > - Then, run as root: > > ```bash > # /usr/sbin/update-ca-certificates > ``` > > All certificates will be consolidated into: `/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt` --- ### Obtaining a certificate ```bash admin@User:~$ step ca certificate nas.lab.loc srv.crt srv.key ✔ Provisioner: contact@lab.loc (JWK) [kid: chyGkrZqp-BGSHUZ8v3jsPipegt2JLcC7y6RPq4OOkU] Please enter the password to decrypt the provisioner key: ✔ CA: https://caserver.lab.loc:443 ✔ Certificate: srv.crt ✔ Private Key: srv.key ``` --- > [!TIP] To perform a health check: > > ```bash > curl https://caserver.lab.loc:443/health -k > ``` --- You may need to customize the `ca.json` file to increase the minimum certificate validity duration. Here's the directory structure: ```bash . |-- certs | |-- intermediate_ca.crt | `-- root_ca.crt |-- config | |-- ca.json | `-- defaults.json |-- db | |-- 000000.vlog | |-- 000020.sst | |-- KEYREGISTRY | |-- LOCK | `-- MANIFEST |-- secrets | |-- intermediate_ca_key | |-- password | `-- root_ca_key `-- templates ``` Example `ca.json` file: ```json { "root": "/home/step/certs/root_ca.crt", "federatedRoots": null, "crt": "/home/step/certs/intermediate_ca.crt", "key": "/home/step/secrets/intermediate_ca_key", "address": ":9000", "insecureAddress": "", "dnsNames": [ "caserver.lab.loc", "caserver", "localhost", "192.168.1.200" ], "logger": { "format": "text" }, "db": { "type": "badgerv2", "dataSource": "/home/step/db", "badgerFileLoadingMode": "" }, "authority": { "enableAdmin": true, "claims": { "maxTLSCertDuration": "4380h" } }, "tls": { "cipherSuites": [ "TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256", "TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256" ], "minVersion": 1.2, "maxVersion": 1.3, "renegotiation": false } }