141 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
141 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
---
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layout: docs
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page_title: Connect - Certificate Management
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description: >-
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Consul ships with a built-in CA system so that Connect can be easily enabled
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out of the box. The built-in CA generates and stores the root certificate and
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private key on Consul servers. It can also be configured with a custom
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certificate and private key if needed.
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---
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# Built-In CA
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Consul ships with a built-in CA system so that Connect can be
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easily enabled out of the box. The built-in CA generates and stores the
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root certificate and private key on Consul servers. It can also be
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configured with a custom certificate and private key if needed.
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If Connect is enabled and no CA provider is specified, the built-in
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CA is the default provider used. The provider can be
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[updated and rotated](/docs/connect/ca#root-certificate-rotation)
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at any point to migrate to a new provider.
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-> This page documents the specifics of the built-in CA provider.
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Please read the [certificate management overview](/docs/connect/ca)
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page first to understand how Consul manages certificates with configurable
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CA providers.
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## Configuration
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The built-in CA provider has no required configuration. Enabling Connect
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alone will configure the built-in CA provider, and will automatically generate
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a root certificate and private key:
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<CodeBlockConfig filename="/etc/consul.d/config.hcl">
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```hcl
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# ...
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connect {
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enabled = true
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}
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```
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</CodeBlockConfig>
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The configuration options are listed below.
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-> **Note**: The first key is the value used in API calls, and the second key
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(after the `/`) is used if you are adding the configuration to the agent's
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configuration file.
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- `PrivateKey` / `private_key` (`string: ""`) - A PEM-encoded private key
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for signing operations. This must match the private key used for the root
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certificate if it is manually specified. If this is blank, a private key
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is automatically generated.
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- `RootCert` / `root_cert` (`string: ""`) - A PEM-encoded root certificate
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to use. If this is blank, a root certificate is automatically generated
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using the private key specified. If this is specified, the certificate
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must be a valid
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[SPIFFE SVID signing certificate](https://github.com/spiffe/spiffe/blob/master/standards/X509-SVID.md)
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and the URI in the SAN must match the cluster identifier created at
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bootstrap with the ".consul" TLD. The cluster identifier can be found
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using the [CA List Roots endpoint](/api/connect/ca#list-ca-root-certificates).
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@include 'http_api_connect_ca_common_options.mdx'
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## Specifying a Custom Private Key and Root Certificate
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By default, a root certificate and private key will be automatically
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generated during the cluster's bootstrap. It is possible to configure
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the Consul CA provider to use a specific private key and root certificate.
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This is particularly useful if you have an external PKI system that doesn't
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currently integrate with Consul directly.
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To view the current CA configuration, use the [Get CA Configuration endpoint](/api/connect/ca#get-ca-configuration):
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```shell-session
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$ curl localhost:8500/v1/connect/ca/configuration
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{
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"Provider": "consul",
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"Config": {
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"LeafCertTTL": "72h",
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"IntermediateCertTTL": "8760h"
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},
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"CreateIndex": 5,
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"ModifyIndex": 5
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}
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```
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This is the default Connect CA configuration if nothing is explicitly set when
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Connect is enabled - the PrivateKey and RootCert fields have not been set, so those have
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been generated (as seen above in the roots list).
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There are two ways to have the Consul CA use a custom private key and root certificate:
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either through the `ca_config` section of the [Agent configuration](/docs/agent/config/config-files#connect_ca_config) (which can only be used during the cluster's
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initial bootstrap) or through the [Update CA Configuration endpoint](/api/connect/ca#update-ca-configuration).
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Currently Consul requires that root certificates are valid [SPIFFE SVID Signing certificates](https://github.com/spiffe/spiffe/blob/master/standards/X509-SVID.md) and that the URI encoded
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in the SAN is the cluster identifier created at bootstrap with the ".consul" TLD. In this
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example, we will set the URI SAN to `spiffe://36cb52cd-4058-f811-0432-6798a240c5d3.consul`.
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In order to use the Update CA Configuration HTTP endpoint, the private key and certificate
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must be passed via JSON:
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```shell-session
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$ jq -n --arg key "$(cat root.key)" --arg cert "$(cat root.crt)" '
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{
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"Provider": "consul",
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"Config": {
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"LeafCertTTL": "72h",
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"PrivateKey": $key,
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"RootCert": $cert,
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"IntermediateCertTTL": "8760h"
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}
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}' > ca_config.json
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```
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The resulting `ca_config.json` file can then be used to update the active root certificate:
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```shell-session
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$ cat ca_config.json
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{
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"Provider": "consul",
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"Config": {
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"LeafCertTTL": "72h",
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"PrivateKey": "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\nMIIEpAIBAAKCAQEArqiy1c3pbT3cSkjdEM1APALUareU...",
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"RootCert": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nMIIDijCCAnKgAwIBAgIJAOFZ66em1qC7MA0GCSqGSIb3...",
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"IntermediateCertTTL": "8760h"
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}
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}
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$ curl --request PUT --data @ca_config.json localhost:8500/v1/connect/ca/configuration
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...
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[INFO] connect: CA rotated to new root under provider "consul"
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```
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The cluster is now using the new private key and root certificate. Updating the CA config
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this way also triggered a certificate rotation.
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