Open Source

`step ca init`

Name

step ca init -- initialize the CA PKI

Usage

step ca init
[--root=<file>] [--key=<file>] [--pki] [--ssh]
[--helm] [--deployment-type=<name>] [--name=<name>]
[--dns=<dns>] [--address=<address>] [--provisioner=<name>]
[--provisioner-password-file=<file>] [--password-file=<file>]
[--ra=<type>] [--kms=<type>] [--with-ca-url=<url>] [--no-db]
[--context=<name>] [--profile=<name>] [--authority=<name>]

Description

step ca init command initializes a public key infrastructure (PKI) to be used by the Certificate Authority.

Options

--root=file The path of an existing PEM file to be used as the root certificate authority.

--key=file The path of an existing key file of the root certificate authority.

--pki Generate only the PKI without the CA configuration.

--ssh Create keys to sign SSH certificates.

--helm Generates a Helm values YAML to be used with step-certificates chart.

--deployment-type=name The name of the deployment type to use. Options are:

standalone: An instance of step-ca that does not connect to any cloud services. You manage authority keys and configuration yourself. Choose standalone if you'd like to run step-ca yourself and do not want cloud services or commercial support.

linked: An instance of step-ca with locally managed keys that connects to your Certificate Manager account for provisioner management, alerting, reporting, revocation, and other managed services. Choose linked if you'd like cloud services and support, but need to control your authority's signing keys.

hosted: A highly available, fully-managed instance of step-ca run by smallstep just for you. Choose hosted if you'd like cloud services and support.

More information and pricing at: https://u.step.sm/cm

--name=name The name of the new PKI.

--dns=name The DNS name or IP address of the new CA. Use the '--dns' flag multiple times to configure multiple DNS names.

--address=address The address that the new CA will listen at.

--provisioner=name The name of the first provisioner.

--password-file=file The path to the file containing the password to encrypt the keys.

--provisioner-password-file=file The path to the file containing the password to encrypt the provisioner key.

--with-ca-url=URI URI of the Step Certificate Authority to write in defaults.json

--ra=type The registration authority type to use. Currently "StepCAS" and "CloudCAS" are supported.

--kms=type The key manager service type to use to manage keys. Options are:

azurekms: Use Azure Key Vault to manage X.509 and SSH keys. The key URIs have the following format azurekms:name=key-name;vault=vault-name.

--kms-root=URI The kms URI used to generate the root certificate key. Examples are:

azurekms: azurekms:name=my-root-key;vault=my-vault

--kms-intermediate=URI The kms URI used to generate the intermediate certificate key. Examples are:

azurekms: azurekms:name=my-intermediate-key;vault=my-vault

--kms-ssh-host=URI The kms URI used to generate the key used to sign SSH host certificates. Examples are:

azurekms: azurekms:name=my-host-key;vault=my-vault

--kms-ssh-user=URI The kms URI used to generate the key used to sign SSH user certificates. Examples are:

azurekms: azurekms:name=my-user-key;vault=my-vault

--issuer=url The registration authority issuer url to use.

If StepCAS is used, this flag should be the URL of the CA to connect to, e.g https://ca.smallstep.com:9000

If CloudCAS is used, this flag should be the resource name of the intermediate certificate to use. This has the format 'projects/*/locations/*/caPools/*/certificateAuthorities/*'.

--issuer-fingerprint=fingerprint The root certificate fingerprint of the issuer CA. This flag is supported in "StepCAS", and it should be the result of running:

$ step certificate fingerprint root_ca.crt
4fe5f5ef09e95c803fdcb80b8cf511e2a885eb86f3ce74e3e90e62fa3faf1531

--issuer-provisioner=name The name of an existing provisioner in the issuer CA. This flag is supported in "StepCAS".

--credentials-file=file The registration authority credentials file to use.

If CloudCAS is used, this flag should be the path to a service account key. It can also be set using the 'GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=path' environment variable or the default service account in an instance in Google Cloud.

--no-db Generate a CA configuration without the DB stanza. No persistence layer.

--context=name The name of the context for the new authority.

--profile=name The name that will serve as the profile name for the context.

--authority=name The name that will serve as the authority name for the context.