1DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8) BIND 9 DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)
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6 dnssec-keygen - DNSSEC key generation tool
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9 dnssec-keygen [-3] [-A date/offset] [-a algorithm] [-b keysize] [-C]
10 [-c class] [-D date/offset] [-d bits] [-D sync date/offset] [-E engine]
11 [-f flag] [-G] [-g generator] [-h] [-I date/offset] [-i interval] [-K
12 directory] [-k policy] [-L ttl] [-l file] [-n nametype] [-P date/off‐
13 set] [-P sync date/offset] [-p protocol] [-q] [-R date/offset] [-S key]
14 [-s strength] [-T rrtype] [-t type] [-V] [-v level] {name}
15
17 dnssec-keygen generates keys for DNSSEC (Secure DNS), as defined in RFC
18 2535 and RFC 4034. It can also generate keys for use with TSIG (Trans‐
19 action Signatures) as defined in RFC 2845, or TKEY (Transaction Key) as
20 defined in RFC 2930.
21 The name of the key is specified on the command line. For DNSSEC keys,
23 this must match the name of the zone for which the key is being gener‐
24 ated.
25 The dnssec-keymgr command acts as a wrapper around dnssec-keygen, gen‐
27 erating and updating keys as needed to enforce defined security poli‐
28 cies such as key rollover scheduling. Using dnssec-keymgr may be
29 preferable to direct use of dnssec-keygen.
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32 -3 This option uses an NSEC3-capable algorithm to generate a DNSSEC
33 key. If this option is used with an algorithm that has both NSEC
34 and NSEC3 versions, then the NSEC3 version is selected; for ex‐
35 ample, dnssec-keygen -3a RSASHA1 specifies the NSEC3RSASHA1 al‐
36 gorithm.
37 -a algorithm
39 This option selects the cryptographic algorithm. For DNSSEC
40 keys, the value of algorithm must be one of RSASHA1,
41 NSEC3RSASHA1, RSASHA256, RSASHA512, ECDSAP256SHA256, ECD‐
42 SAP384SHA384, ED25519, or ED448. For TKEY, the value must be DH
43 (Diffie-Hellman); specifying this value automatically sets the
44 -T KEY option as well.
45 These values are case-insensitive. In some cases, abbreviations
47 are supported, such as ECDSA256 for ECDSAP256SHA256 and ECDSA384
48 for ECDSAP384SHA384. If RSASHA1 is specified along with the -3
49 option, NSEC3RSASHA1 is used instead.
50 This parameter must be specified except when using the -S op‐
52 tion, which copies the algorithm from the predecessor key.
53 In prior releases, HMAC algorithms could be generated for use as
55 TSIG keys, but that feature was removed in BIND 9.13.0. Use
56 tsig-keygen to generate TSIG keys.
57 -b keysize
59 This option specifies the number of bits in the key. The choice
60 of key size depends on the algorithm used: RSA keys must be be‐
61 tween 1024 and 4096 bits; Diffie-Hellman keys must be between
62 128 and 4096 bits. Elliptic curve algorithms do not need this
63 parameter.
64 If the key size is not specified, some algorithms have pre-de‐
66 fined defaults. For example, RSA keys for use as DNSSEC
67 zone-signing keys have a default size of 1024 bits; RSA keys for
68 use as key-signing keys (KSKs, generated with -f KSK) default to
69 2048 bits.
70 -C This option enables compatibility mode, which generates an
72 old-style key, without any timing metadata. By default,
73 dnssec-keygen includes the key's creation date in the metadata
74 stored with the private key; other dates may be set there as
75 well, including publication date, activation date, etc. Keys
76 that include this data may be incompatible with older versions
77 of BIND; the -C option suppresses them.
78 -c class
80 This option indicates that the DNS record containing the key
81 should have the specified class. If not specified, class IN is
82 used.
83 -d bits
85 This option specifies the key size in bits. For the algorithms
86 RSASHA1, NSEC3RSASA1, RSASHA256, and RSASHA512 the key size must
87 be between 1024 and 4096 bits; DH size is between 128 and 4096
88 bits. This option is ignored for algorithms ECDSAP256SHA256,
89 ECDSAP384SHA384, ED25519, and ED448.
90 -E engine
92 This option specifies the cryptographic hardware to use, when
93 applicable.
94 When BIND 9 is built with OpenSSL, this needs to be set to the
96 OpenSSL engine identifier that drives the cryptographic acceler‐
97 ator or hardware service module (usually pkcs11). When BIND is
98 built with native PKCS#11 cryptography (--enable-native-pkcs11),
99 it defaults to the path of the PKCS#11 provider library speci‐
100 fied via --with-pkcs11.
101 -f flag
103 This option sets the specified flag in the flag field of the
104 KEY/DNSKEY record. The only recognized flags are KSK (Key-Sign‐
105 ing Key) and REVOKE.
106 -G This option generates a key, but does not publish it or sign
108 with it. This option is incompatible with -P and -A.
109 -g generator
111 This option indicates the generator to use if generating a
112 Diffie-Hellman key. Allowed values are 2 and 5. If no generator
113 is specified, a known prime from RFC 2539 is used if possible;
114 otherwise the default is 2.
115 -h This option prints a short summary of the options and arguments
117 to dnssec-keygen.
118 -K directory
120 This option sets the directory in which the key files are to be
121 written.
122 -k policy
124 This option creates keys for a specific dnssec-policy. If a pol‐
125 icy uses multiple keys, dnssec-keygen generates multiple keys.
126 This also creates a ".state" file to keep track of the key
127 state.
128 This option creates keys according to the dnssec-policy configu‐
130 ration, hence it cannot be used at the same time as many of the
131 other options that dnssec-keygen provides.
132 -L ttl This option sets the default TTL to use for this key when it is
134 converted into a DNSKEY RR. This is the TTL used when the key is
135 imported into a zone, unless there was already a DNSKEY RRset in
136 place, in which case the existing TTL takes precedence. If this
137 value is not set and there is no existing DNSKEY RRset, the TTL
138 defaults to the SOA TTL. Setting the default TTL to 0 or none is
139 the same as leaving it unset.
140 -l file
142 This option provides a configuration file that contains a
143 dnssec-policy statement (matching the policy set with -k).
144 -n nametype
146 This option specifies the owner type of the key. The value of
147 nametype must either be ZONE (for a DNSSEC zone key
148 (KEY/DNSKEY)), HOST or ENTITY (for a key associated with a host
149 (KEY)), USER (for a key associated with a user (KEY)), or OTHER
150 (DNSKEY). These values are case-insensitive. The default is ZONE
151 for DNSKEY generation.
152 -p protocol
154 This option sets the protocol value for the generated key, for
155 use with -T KEY. The protocol is a number between 0 and 255. The
156 default is 3 (DNSSEC). Other possible values for this argument
157 are listed in RFC 2535 and its successors.
158 -q This option sets quiet mode, which suppresses unnecessary out‐
160 put, including progress indication. Without this option, when
161 dnssec-keygen is run interactively to generate an RSA or DSA key
162 pair, it prints a string of symbols to stderr indicating the
163 progress of the key generation. A . indicates that a random num‐
164 ber has been found which passed an initial sieve test; + means a
165 number has passed a single round of the Miller-Rabin primality
166 test; and a space ( ) means that the number has passed all the
167 tests and is a satisfactory key.
168 -S key This option creates a new key which is an explicit successor to
170 an existing key. The name, algorithm, size, and type of the key
171 are set to match the existing key. The activation date of the
172 new key is set to the inactivation date of the existing one. The
173 publication date is set to the activation date minus the prepub‐
174 lication interval, which defaults to 30 days.
175 -s strength
177 This option specifies the strength value of the key. The
178 strength is a number between 0 and 15, and currently has no de‐
179 fined purpose in DNSSEC.
180 -T rrtype
182 This option specifies the resource record type to use for the
183 key. rrtype must be either DNSKEY or KEY. The default is DNSKEY
184 when using a DNSSEC algorithm, but it can be overridden to KEY
185 for use with SIG(0).
186 -t type
188 This option indicates the type of the key for use with -T KEY.
189 type must be one of AUTHCONF, NOAUTHCONF, NOAUTH, or NOCONF. The
190 default is AUTHCONF. AUTH refers to the ability to authenticate
191 data, and CONF to the ability to encrypt data.
192 -V This option prints version information.
194 -v level
196 This option sets the debugging level.
197
199 Dates can be expressed in the format YYYYMMDD or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. If the
200 argument begins with a + or -, it is interpreted as an offset from the
201 present time. For convenience, if such an offset is followed by one of
202 the suffixes y, mo, w, d, h, or mi, then the offset is computed in
203 years (defined as 365 24-hour days, ignoring leap years), months (de‐
204 fined as 30 24-hour days), weeks, days, hours, or minutes, respec‐
205 tively. Without a suffix, the offset is computed in seconds. To explic‐
206 itly prevent a date from being set, use none or never.
207 -P date/offset
209 This option sets the date on which a key is to be published to
210 the zone. After that date, the key is included in the zone but
211 is not used to sign it. If not set, and if the -G option has not
212 been used, the default is the current date.
213 -P sync date/offset
215 This option sets the date on which CDS and CDNSKEY records that
216 match this key are to be published to the zone.
217 -A date/offset
219 This option sets the date on which the key is to be activated.
220 After that date, the key is included in the zone and used to
221 sign it. If not set, and if the -G option has not been used, the
222 default is the current date. If set, and -P is not set, the pub‐
223 lication date is set to the activation date minus the prepubli‐
224 cation interval.
225 -R date/offset
227 This option sets the date on which the key is to be revoked. Af‐
228 ter that date, the key is flagged as revoked. It is included in
229 the zone and is used to sign it.
230 -I date/offset
232 This option sets the date on which the key is to be retired. Af‐
233 ter that date, the key is still included in the zone, but it is
234 not used to sign it.
235 -D date/offset
237 This option sets the date on which the key is to be deleted. Af‐
238 ter that date, the key is no longer included in the zone. (How‐
239 ever, it may remain in the key repository.)
240 -D sync date/offset
242 This option sets the date on which the CDS and CDNSKEY records
243 that match this key are to be deleted.
244 -i interval
246 This option sets the prepublication interval for a key. If set,
247 then the publication and activation dates must be separated by
248 at least this much time. If the activation date is specified but
249 the publication date is not, the publication date defaults to
250 this much time before the activation date; conversely, if the
251 publication date is specified but not the activation date, acti‐
252 vation is set to this much time after publication.
253 If the key is being created as an explicit successor to another
255 key, then the default prepublication interval is 30 days; other‐
256 wise it is zero.
257 As with date offsets, if the argument is followed by one of the
259 suffixes y, mo, w, d, h, or mi, the interval is measured in
260 years, months, weeks, days, hours, or minutes, respectively.
261 Without a suffix, the interval is measured in seconds.
262
264 When dnssec-keygen completes successfully, it prints a string of the
265 form Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii to the standard output. This is an identification
266 string for the key it has generated.
267 • nnnn is the key name.
269 • aaa is the numeric representation of the algorithm.
271 • iiiii is the key identifier (or footprint).
273 dnssec-keygen creates two files, with names based on the printed
275 string. Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.key contains the public key, and
276 Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.private contains the private key.
277 The .key file contains a DNSKEY or KEY record. When a zone is being
279 signed by named or dnssec-signzone -S, DNSKEY records are included au‐
280 tomatically. In other cases, the .key file can be inserted into a zone
281 file manually or with an $INCLUDE statement.
282 The .private file contains algorithm-specific fields. For obvious secu‐
284 rity reasons, this file does not have general read permission.
285
287 To generate an ECDSAP256SHA256 zone-signing key for the zone exam‐
288 ple.com, issue the command:
289 dnssec-keygen -a ECDSAP256SHA256 example.com
291 The command prints a string of the form:
293 Kexample.com.+013+26160
295 In this example, dnssec-keygen creates the files Kexam‐
297 ple.com.+013+26160.key and Kexample.com.+013+26160.private.
298 To generate a matching key-signing key, issue the command:
300 dnssec-keygen -a ECDSAP256SHA256 -f KSK example.com
302
304 dnssec-signzone(8), BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual, RFC 2539,
305 RFC 2845, RFC 4034.
306
308 Internet Systems Consortium
309
311 2022, Internet Systems Consortium
3129.16.30-RH DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)