strongSwan

h1. openac

*openac* is intended to be used by an _Authorization Authority (AA)_ to generate and sign X.509 attribute

certificates. Currently only the inclusion of _group attributes_ is supported. An attribute certificate is linked

to a holder by including the issuer and serial number of the holder's X.509 certificate.

h3. Parameters

The following command line options are supported:

_--help_

    display the usage message.

_--version_

    display the version of _openac_.

_--optionsfrom <filename>_

    adds the contents of the file to the argument list. If _<filename>_ is a relative path then the

    file is searched in the _/etc/openac_ directory.

_--debug <level>_

    sets the debug level to 0 (none), 1 (normal), 2 (more), 3 (raw), and 4 (private), the default level being 1.

_--quiet_

    By default _openac_ logs all control output both to syslog and stderr. With the _--quiet_ option no

    output is written to stderr.

_--days <days>_

    Validity of the X.509 attribute certificate in days. If neither the _--days_ nor the _--hours_ option

    is specified then a default validity interval of 1 day is assumed. The _--days_ option can be

    combined with the _--hours_ option.

_--hours <hours>_

    Validity of the X.509 attribute certificate in hours. If neither the _--hours_ nor the _--days_ option

    is specified then a default validity interval of 24 hours is assumed. The _--hours_ option can be

    combined with the _--days_ option.

_--startdate YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ_

    defines the _notBefore_ date when the X.509 attribute certificate becomes valid. The date _YYYYMMDDHHMMSS_

    must be specified in UTC (Zulu time).  If the _--startdate_ option is not specified then

    the current time is taken as a default.

_--stopdate YYYYMMDDHHMMSSZ_

    defines the _notAfter_ date when the X.509 attribute certificate will expire. The date _YYYYMMDDHHMMSS_

    must be specified in UTC (Zulu time). If the _--stopdate_ option is not specified then the default

    _notAfter_ value is computed by adding the validity interval specified by the _--days_ and/or

    _--days_ options to the _notBefore_ date.

_--cert <certfile>_

    specifies  the  file  containing the X.509 certificate of the Authorization Authority.

    Thanks to the automatic format recognition the certificate can be stored either in PEM or DER format.

_--key <keyfile>_

    specifies the encrypted file containing the private RSA key of the Authoritzation Authority.

    The private key is stored in PKCS#1 format.

_--password <password>_

    specifies the password with which the private RSA keyfile defined by the _--key_ option has been

    protected. If the option is missing then the password is prompted for on the command line.

_--usercert <certfile>_

    specifies file containing the X.509 certificate of the user to which the generated attribute

    certificate will apply. Thanks to the automatic format recognition the certificate file can be

    stored either in PEM or DER format.

_--groups <attr1>,<attr2>_

    specifies a comma-separated list of _group attributes_ that will go into the X.509 attribute

    certificate.

_--out <filename>

    specifies the file where the generated X.509 attribute certificate will be stored to in binary

    DER format.

h3. Examples

Common options can be stored in a file and be loaded via the _--optionsfrom_ parameter:

<pre>

moon# cat /etc/openac/default.conf

--cert /etc/ipsec.d/aacerts/aaCert.pem

--key /etc/openac/aaKey.pem

--hours 8

</pre>

First the attribute certificate for _carol_ is generated. She is member of the

_Research_ group.

<pre>

moon# ipsec openac --optionsfrom default.conf --usercert /etc/openac/carolCert.pem \

                   --groups Research --out /etc/ipsec.d/acerts/carolAC.pem

  loaded private key file '/etc/openac/aaKey.pem' (1675 bytes)

  loaded signer cert file '/etc/ipsec.d/aacerts/aaCert.pem' (1505 bytes)

  loaded user cert file '/etc/openac/carolCert.pem' (1493 bytes)

  file '/etc/openac/serial' does not exist yet - serial number set to 01

  written attribute cert file '/etc/ipsec.d/acerts/carolAC.pem' (784 bytes)

  serial number is 01

</pre>

The second attribute certificate is issued to _dave_ who belongs to the _Sales_

and _Accounting_ groups.

<pre>

moon# ipsec openac --optionsfrom default.conf --usercert /etc/openac/daveCert.pem \

                   --groups "Sales, Accounting" --out /etc/ipsec.d/acerts/daveAC.pem

  loaded private key file '/etc/openac/aaKey.pem' (1675 bytes)

  loaded signer cert file '/etc/ipsec.d/aacerts/aaCert.pem' (1505 bytes)

  loaded user cert file '/etc/openac/daveCert.pem' (1493 bytes)

  written attribute cert file '/etc/ipsec.d/acerts/daveAC.pem' (787 bytes)

  serial number is 02

</pre>