1DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8) BIND9 DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)
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6 dnssec-keygen - DNSSEC key generation tool
7
9 dnssec-keygen [-a algorithm] [-b keysize] [-n nametype] [-3]
10 [-A date/offset] [-C] [-c class] [-D date/offset]
11 [-E engine] [-e] [-f flag] [-G] [-g generator] [-h]
12 [-I date/offset] [-i interval] [-K directory] [-k]
13 [-P date/offset] [-p protocol] [-q] [-R date/offset]
14 [-r randomdev] [-S key] [-s strength] [-t type]
15 [-v level] [-z] {name}
16
18 dnssec-keygen generates keys for DNSSEC (Secure DNS), as defined in RFC
19 2535 and RFC 4034. It can also generate keys for use with TSIG
20 (Transaction Signatures) as defined in RFC 2845, or TKEY (Transaction
21 Key) as defined in RFC 2930.
22 The name of the key is specified on the command line. For DNSSEC keys,
24 this must match the name of the zone for which the key is being
25 generated.
26
28 -a algorithm
29 Selects the cryptographic algorithm. For DNSSEC keys, the value of
30 algorithm must be one of RSAMD5, RSASHA1, DSA, NSEC3RSASHA1,
31 NSEC3DSA, RSASHA256, RSASHA512 or ECCGOST. For TSIG/TKEY, the value
32 must be DH (Diffie Hellman), HMAC-MD5, HMAC-SHA1, HMAC-SHA224,
33 HMAC-SHA256, HMAC-SHA384, or HMAC-SHA512. These values are case
34 insensitive.
35 If no algorithm is specified, then RSASHA1 will be used by default,
37 unless the -3 option is specified, in which case NSEC3RSASHA1 will
38 be used instead. (If -3 is used and an algorithm is specified, that
39 algorithm will be checked for compatibility with NSEC3.)
40 Note 1: that for DNSSEC, RSASHA1 is a mandatory to implement
42 algorithm, and DSA is recommended. For TSIG, HMAC-MD5 is mandatory.
43 Note 2: DH, HMAC-MD5, and HMAC-SHA1 through HMAC-SHA512
45 automatically set the -T KEY option.
46 -b keysize
48 Specifies the number of bits in the key. The choice of key size
49 depends on the algorithm used. RSA keys must be between 512 and
50 2048 bits. Diffie Hellman keys must be between 128 and 4096 bits.
51 DSA keys must be between 512 and 1024 bits and an exact multiple of
52 64. HMAC keys must be between 1 and 512 bits.
53 The key size does not need to be specified if using a default
55 algorithm. The default key size is 1024 bits for zone signing keys
56 (ZSK's) and 2048 bits for key signing keys (KSK's, generated with
57 -f KSK). However, if an algorithm is explicitly specified with the
58 -a, then there is no default key size, and the -b must be used.
59 -n nametype
61 Specifies the owner type of the key. The value of nametype must
62 either be ZONE (for a DNSSEC zone key (KEY/DNSKEY)), HOST or ENTITY
63 (for a key associated with a host (KEY)), USER (for a key
64 associated with a user(KEY)) or OTHER (DNSKEY). These values are
65 case insensitive. Defaults to ZONE for DNSKEY generation.
66 -3
68 Use an NSEC3-capable algorithm to generate a DNSSEC key. If this
69 option is used and no algorithm is explicitly set on the command
70 line, NSEC3RSASHA1 will be used by default. Note that RSASHA256,
71 RSASHA512 and ECCGOST algorithms are NSEC3-capable.
72 -C
74 Compatibility mode: generates an old-style key, without any
75 metadata. By default, dnssec-keygen will include the key's creation
76 date in the metadata stored with the private key, and other dates
77 may be set there as well (publication date, activation date, etc).
78 Keys that include this data may be incompatible with older versions
79 of BIND; the -C option suppresses them.
80 -c class
82 Indicates that the DNS record containing the key should have the
83 specified class. If not specified, class IN is used.
84 -E engine
86 Uses a crypto hardware (OpenSSL engine) for random number and, when
87 supported, key generation. When compiled with PKCS#11 support it
88 defaults to pkcs11; the empty name resets it to no engine.
89 -e
91 If generating an RSAMD5/RSASHA1 key, use a large exponent.
92 -f flag
94 Set the specified flag in the flag field of the KEY/DNSKEY record.
95 The only recognized flags are KSK (Key Signing Key) and REVOKE.
96 -G
98 Generate a key, but do not publish it or sign with it. This option
99 is incompatible with -P and -A.
100 -g generator
102 If generating a Diffie Hellman key, use this generator. Allowed
103 values are 2 and 5. If no generator is specified, a known prime
104 from RFC 2539 will be used if possible; otherwise the default is 2.
105 -h
107 Prints a short summary of the options and arguments to
108 dnssec-keygen.
109 -K directory
111 Sets the directory in which the key files are to be written.
112 -k
114 Deprecated in favor of -T KEY.
115 -p protocol
117 Sets the protocol value for the generated key. The protocol is a
118 number between 0 and 255. The default is 3 (DNSSEC). Other possible
119 values for this argument are listed in RFC 2535 and its successors.
120 -q
122 Quiet mode: Suppresses unnecessary output, including progress
123 indication. Without this option, when dnssec-keygen is run
124 interactively to generate an RSA or DSA key pair, it will print a
125 string of symbols to stderr indicating the progress of the key
126 generation. A '.' indicates that a random number has been found
127 which passed an initial sieve test; '+' means a number has passed a
128 single round of the Miller-Rabin primality test; a space means that
129 the number has passed all the tests and is a satisfactory key.
130 -r randomdev
132 Specifies the source of randomness. If the operating system does
133 not provide a /dev/random or equivalent device, the default source
134 of randomness is keyboard input. randomdev specifies the name of a
135 character device or file containing random data to be used instead
136 of the default. The special value keyboard indicates that keyboard
137 input should be used.
138 -S key
140 Create a new key which is an explicit successor to an existing key.
141 The name, algorithm, size, and type of the key will be set to match
142 the existing key. The activation date of the new key will be set to
143 the inactivation date of the existing one. The publication date
144 will be set to the activation date minus the prepublication
145 interval, which defaults to 30 days.
146 -s strength
148 Specifies the strength value of the key. The strength is a number
149 between 0 and 15, and currently has no defined purpose in DNSSEC.
150 -T rrtype
152 Specifies the resource record type to use for the key. rrtype must
153 be either DNSKEY or KEY. The default is DNSKEY when using a DNSSEC
154 algorithm, but it can be overridden to KEY for use with SIG(0).
155 Using any TSIG algorithm (HMAC-* or DH) forces this option to KEY.
156 -t type
158 Indicates the use of the key. type must be one of AUTHCONF,
159 NOAUTHCONF, NOAUTH, or NOCONF. The default is AUTHCONF. AUTH refers
160 to the ability to authenticate data, and CONF the ability to
161 encrypt data.
162 -v level
164 Sets the debugging level.
165
167 Dates can be expressed in the format YYYYMMDD or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. If the
168 argument begins with a '+' or '-', it is interpreted as an offset from
169 the present time. For convenience, if such an offset is followed by one
170 of the suffixes 'y', 'mo', 'w', 'd', 'h', or 'mi', then the offset is
171 computed in years (defined as 365 24-hour days, ignoring leap years),
172 months (defined as 30 24-hour days), weeks, days, hours, or minutes,
173 respectively. Without a suffix, the offset is computed in seconds.
174 -P date/offset
176 Sets the date on which a key is to be published to the zone. After
177 that date, the key will be included in the zone but will not be
178 used to sign it. If not set, and if the -G option has not been
179 used, the default is "now".
180 -A date/offset
182 Sets the date on which the key is to be activated. After that date,
183 the key will be included in the zone and used to sign it. If not
184 set, and if the -G option has not been used, the default is "now".
185 -R date/offset
187 Sets the date on which the key is to be revoked. After that date,
188 the key will be flagged as revoked. It will be included in the zone
189 and will be used to sign it.
190 -I date/offset
192 Sets the date on which the key is to be retired. After that date,
193 the key will still be included in the zone, but it will not be used
194 to sign it.
195 -D date/offset
197 Sets the date on which the key is to be deleted. After that date,
198 the key will no longer be included in the zone. (It may remain in
199 the key repository, however.)
200 -i interval
202 Sets the prepublication interval for a key. If set, then the
203 publication and activation dates must be separated by at least this
204 much time. If the activation date is specified but the publication
205 date isn't, then the publication date will default to this much
206 time before the activation date; conversely, if the publication
207 date is specified but activation date isn't, then activation will
208 be set to this much time after publication.
209 If the key is being created as an explicit successor to another
211 key, then the default prepublication interval is 30 days; otherwise
212 it is zero.
213 As with date offsets, if the argument is followed by one of the
215 suffixes 'y', 'mo', 'w', 'd', 'h', or 'mi', then the interval is
216 measured in years, months, weeks, days, hours, or minutes,
217 respectively. Without a suffix, the interval is measured in
218 seconds.
219
221 When dnssec-keygen completes successfully, it prints a string of the
222 form Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii to the standard output. This is an identification
223 string for the key it has generated.
224 · nnnn is the key name.
226 · aaa is the numeric representation of the algorithm.
228 · iiiii is the key identifier (or footprint).
230 dnssec-keygen creates two files, with names based on the printed
232 string. Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.key contains the public key, and
233 Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.private contains the private key.
234 The .key file contains a DNS KEY record that can be inserted into a
236 zone file (directly or with a $INCLUDE statement).
237 The .private file contains algorithm-specific fields. For obvious
239 security reasons, this file does not have general read permission.
240 Both .key and .private files are generated for symmetric encryption
242 algorithms such as HMAC-MD5, even though the public and private key are
243 equivalent.
244
246 To generate a 768-bit DSA key for the domain example.com, the following
247 command would be issued:
248 dnssec-keygen -a DSA -b 768 -n ZONE example.com
250 The command would print a string of the form:
252 Kexample.com.+003+26160
254 In this example, dnssec-keygen creates the files
256 Kexample.com.+003+26160.key and Kexample.com.+003+26160.private.
257
259 dnssec-signzone(8), BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual, RFC 2539,
260 RFC 2845, RFC 4034.
261
263 Internet Systems Consortium
264
266 Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2007-2010 Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.
267 ("ISC")
268 Copyright © 2000-2003 Internet Software Consortium.
269BIND9 June 30, 2000 DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)