quasoft/pgcrtauth

Simple tool for generation of self-signed certificates for PostgreSQL servers

pgcrtauth

pgcrtauth is a simple cross-platform tool for generation of self-signed certificates for standalone and clustered PostgreSQL servers.

The tool comes handy when you need a self-signed server certificate for tests or development and don't have openssl around.

How to use

The following two uses cases are currently supported:

1. Generate a self-signed certificate for a single standalone PostgreSQL server:

   pgcrtauth generate --hostnames "srv1.company.local,10.0.0.1" \
       --organization "My Company" --common-name "srv1.company.local" \
       --out-dir /certs/srv1/ --self-signed
   

   or the same command with shorthand flags:

   pgcrtauth generate -H "srv1.domain.local,10.0.0.1" \
       -O "My Company" -C "srv1.domain.local" -o /certs/srv1/ -s
   

2. Create certificates for servers in a PostgreSQL cluster that are signed by a common certificate authority (CA):

   • The following command creates the root.crt and root.key files in an empty folder - yours CA:

      pgcrtauth init --organization "My Company" --common-name "ClusterCA" --ca-dir /certs/ca/
     

   • Then generate a certificate signed by "ClusterCA" for each server in the cluster:

      pgcrtauth generate -H "srv1.domain.local" -O "My Company" -C "srv1.domain.local" \
          -o /certs/srv1/ --ca-dir /certs/ca/
     

   • That's it. You can copy the /certs/ca/root.crt, /certs/srv1/server.crt and /certs/srv1/server.key files to the server data directory.

     The tool automatically restricts access to .key files by executing chmod og-rwe server.key or icacls server.key /reset && icacls server.key /inheritance:r /grant:r "CREATOR OWNER:F". Make sure to do the same after you transfer the files to the PostgreSQL server.

Warning

If you intend to use this tool for anything more than tests and development:

• Use the tool only on a secure offline machine;
• Restrict access to yours /certs/ca/ directory;
• Keep the root.key file only on this offline machine. It's not needed by PostgreSQL;
• Transfer the server certificates (server.crt and server.key) to the servers via an offline method.

TODO:

Planned features anyone can contribute to:

• Always password protect the CA key
• Support generation of client certificates
• Add a request subcommand for creation of certificate signing request for external CA.
• Warn user not to copy root.key to the server after a new CA has been created
• Warn if creating or using CA on a computer that is running an instance of PostgreSQL
• Allow customization of commonly used parameters like (eg. Country, State, City, Organization Unit and Email Address).
• Use Windows API to set file ACL instead of invoking the icacls command