The Automatic CA overlay generates X.509 certificate/key pairs for
entries in the directory. The DN of a generated certificate is
identical to the DN of the entry containing it. On startup it
-checks for a CA certificate in the suffix entry of the database
-and generates and stores one if not found. This CA certificate
-is used to sign all subsequently generated certificates.
+looks for a CA certificate and key in the suffix entry of the
+database which it will use to sign all subsequently generated
+certificates. A new CA certificate and key will be generated
+and stored in the suffix entry if none already exists. The CA
+certificate is stored in the cACertificate;binary attribute of
+the suffix entry, and the private key is stored in the
+cAPrivateKey;binary attribute of the suffix entry. These
+attributes may be overwritten if some other CA certificate/key
+pair is desired for use.
.LP
Certificates for users and servers are generated on demand using
a Search request returning only the userCertificate;binary and
.B cAPrivateKey
attribute, and user and server private keys are stored in the
.B userPrivateKey
-attribute. It is essential that access to these attributes be
+attribute. The private key values are encoded in PKCS#8 format.
+It is essential that access to these attributes be
properly secured with ACLs. Both of these attributes inherit
from the
.B x509PrivateKey
.fi
at the beginning of the rules.
+.LP
+Currently there is no automated management for expiration or revocation.
+Obsolete certificates and keys must be manually removed by deleting
+an entry's userCertificate and userPrivateKey attributes.
.SH CONFIGURATION
These
.B caDays <integer>
Specify the duration for the CA certificate's validity.
The default is 3652, 10 years.
+.TP
+.B localDN <DN>
+Specify the DN of an entry that represents this server. Requests
+to generate a certificate/key pair for this DN will also install
+the certificate and key into slapd's TLS settings in cn=config
+for immediate use.
.SH EXAMPLES
.nf