An online certificate authority and related tools for secure automated certificate management, so you can use TLS everywhere.
This repository is for `step-ca`, a certificate authority that exposes an API for automated certificate management. It also contains a [golang SDK](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/tree/master/examples#basic-client-usage) for interacting with `step-ca` programatically. However, you'll probably want to use the [`step` command-line tool](https://github.com/smallstep/cli) to operate `step-ca` and get certificates, instead of using this low-level SDK directly.
**Questions? Find us [on gitter](https://gitter.im/smallstep/community).**
[Website](https://smallstep.com) |
[Documentation](#documentation) |
[Installation Guide](#installation-guide) |
@ -21,6 +25,38 @@ An online certificate authority and related tools for secure automated certifica
## Features
It's super easy to get started and to operate `step-ca` thanks to [streamlined initialization](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates#lets-get-started) and [safe, sane defaults](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/blob/master/docs/defaults.md). **Get started in 15 minutes.**
### A private certificate authority you run yourself
- Issue client and server certificates to VMs, containers, devices, and people using internal hostnames and emails
- [RFC5280](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5280) and [CA/Browser Forum](https://cabforum.org/baseline-requirements-documents/) compliant certificates that work **for TLS and HTTPS** (SSH coming soon!)
- Choose key types (RSA, ECDSA, EdDSA) & lifetimes to suit your needs
- [Short-lived certificates](https://smallstep.com/blog/passive-revocation.html) with **fully automated** enrollment, renewal, and revocation
- Fast, stable, and capable of high availability deployment using [root federation](https://smallstep.com/blog/step-v0.8.3-federation-root-rotation.html) and/or multiple intermediaries
- Operate as an online intermediate for an existing root CA
- [Pluggable database backends](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/blob/master/docs/database.md) for persistence
- [Helm charts](https://hub.helm.sh/charts/smallstep/step-certificates), [autocert](https://github.com/smallstep/autocert), and [cert-manager integration](https://github.com/smallstep/step-issuer) for kubernetes
### Lots of (automatable) ways to get certificates
- [Single sign-on](https://smallstep.com/blog/easily-curl-services-secured-by-https-tls.html) using Okta, GSuite, Active Directory, or any other OAuth OIDC identity provider
- Instance identity documents for VMs on AWS, GCP, and Azure
- [Single-use short-lived tokens](https://smallstep.com/docs/design-doc.html#jwk-provisioner) issued by your CD tool — Puppet, Chef, Ansible, Terraform, etc.
- Use an existing certificate from another CA (e.g., using a device certificate like [Twilio's Trust OnBoard](https://www.twilio.com/wireless/trust-onboard)) *coming soon*
- ACMEv2 (RFC8555) support so you can **run your own private ACME server** *[coming soon](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/tree/acme)*
### Easy certificate management and automation via [`step` CLI](https://github.com/smallstep/cli) [integration](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/ca/)
- Generate key pairs where they're needed so private keys are never transmitted across the network
- [Authenticate and obtain a certificate](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/ca/certificate/) using any enrollment mechanism supported by `step-ca`
- Securely [distribute root certificates](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/ca/root/) and [bootstrap](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/ca/bootstrap/) PKI relying parties
- [Renew](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/ca/renew/) and [revoke](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/ca/revoke/) certificates issued by `step-ca`
- [Install root certificates](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/certificate/install/) so your CA is trusted by default (issue development certificates **that [work in browsers](https://smallstep.com/blog/step-v0-8-6-valid-HTTPS-certificates-for-dev-pre-prod.html)**)
- [Inspect](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/certificate/inspect/) and [lint](https://smallstep.com/docs/cli/certificate/lint/) certificates
## Motivation
Managing your own *public key infrastructure* (PKI) can be tedious and error
@ -49,35 +85,22 @@ need.
makes it much easier to implement good security practices early, and
incrementally improve them as your system matures.
For more information and docs see [the Step
For more information and [docs](https://smallstep.com/docs) see [the smallstep
website](https://smallstep.com/certificates) and the [blog
> If you're using Kubernetes, make sure you [check out
> autocert](https://github.com/smallstep/autocert): a kubernetes add-on that builds on `step
> certificates` to automatically inject TLS/HTTPS certificates into your containers.
post](https://smallstep.com/blog/step-certificates.html) announcing this project.
## Installation Guide
These instructions will install an OS specific version of the `step-ca` binary on
your local machine.
> NOTE: While `step` is not required to run the Step Certificate Authority (CA)
> we strongly recommend installing both `step cli` and `step certificates`
> because the Step CA is much easier to initialize, manage, and debug using
> the `step cli` toolkit.
While `step` is not required to run `step-ca`, it will make your life easier so you'll probably want to [install it](https://github.com/smallstep/cli#installation-guide) too.
### Mac OS
Install `step` via [Homebrew](https://brew.sh/). The
See the [Getting Started](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md) guide for an in depth
explanation of the Step CA configuration file.
Your PKI is ready to go. To generate certificates for individual services see 'step help ca'.</code></pre>
<pre><code>
<b>$ step ca init</b>
✔ What would you like to name your new PKI? (e.g. Smallstep): <b>Example Inc.</b>
✔ 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>
✔ What address will your new CA listen at? (e.g. :443): <b>127.0.0.1:8080</b>
✔ What would you like to name the first provisioner for your new CA? (e.g. you@smallstep.com): <b>bob@example.com</b>
✔ What do you want your password to be? [leave empty and we'll generate one]: <b>abc123</b>
This command will:
Generating root certificate...
all done!
- Generate [password protected](https://github.com/smallstep/certificates/blob/master/docs/GETTING_STARTED.md#passwords) private keys for your CA to sign certificates
- Generate a root and [intermediate signing certificate](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/128779/why-is-it-more-secure-to-use-intermediate-ca-certificates) for your CA
- Create a JSON configuration file for `step-ca` (see [getting started](./docs/GETTING_STARTED.md) for details)
Generating intermediate certificate...
all done!
You can find these artifacts in `$STEPPATH` (or `~/.step` by default).
Note that `step` and `step-ca` handle details like [certificate bundling](https://smallstep.com/blog/everything-pki.html#intermediates-chains-and-bundling) for you.
#### 5. Run the simple server.
3. Get an identity for your server from the Step CA.
<pre><code>
<b>$ step ca certificate localhost srv.crt srv.key</b>
Mariano Cano
5 years ago