<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN">

<refentry>

<refentryinfo>

<date>June 30, 2000</date>

</refentryinfo>

<refmeta>

<refentrytitle><application>dnssec-keygen</application></refentrytitle>

<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>

<refmiscinfo>BIND9</refmiscinfo>

</refmeta>

<refnamediv>

<refname><application>dnssec-keygen</application></refname>

<refpurpose>DNSSEC key generation tool</refpurpose>

</refnamediv>

<refsynopsisdiv>

<cmdsynopsis>

<command>dnssec-keygen</command>

<arg choice="req">-a <replaceable class="parameter">algorithm</replaceable></arg>

<arg choice="req">-b <replaceable class="parameter">keysize</replaceable></arg>

<arg choice="req">-n <replaceable class="parameter">nametype</replaceable></arg>

<arg><option>-c <replaceable class="parameter">class</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg><option>-e</option></arg>

<arg><option>-g <replaceable class="parameter">generator</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg><option>-h</option></arg>

<arg><option>-p <replaceable class="parameter">protocol</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg><option>-r <replaceable class="parameter">randomdev</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg><option>-s <replaceable class="parameter">strength</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg><option>-t <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg><option>-v <replaceable class="parameter">level</replaceable></option></arg>

<arg choice="req">name</arg>

</cmdsynopsis>

</refsynopsisdiv>

<refsect1>

<title>DESCRIPTION</title>

<para>

<command>dnssec-keygen</command> generates keys for DNSSEC

(Secure DNS), as defined in RFC 2535. It can also generate

keys for use with TSIG (Transaction Signatures), as

defined in RFC 2845.

</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1>

<title>OPTIONS</title>

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>

<term>-a <replaceable class="parameter">algorithm</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Selects the cryptographic algorithm. The value of

<option>algorithm</option> must be one of RSAMD5 or RSA,

DSA, DH (Diffie Hellman), or HMAC-MD5. These values

are case insensitive.

</para>

<para>

Note that for DNSSEC, DSA is a mandatory to implement algorithm,

and RSA is recommended. For TSIG, HMAC-MD5 is mandatory.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-b <replaceable class="parameter">keysize</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Specifies the number of bits in the key. The choice of key

size depends on the algorithm used. RSA keys must be between

512 and 2048 bits. Diffie Hellman keys must be between

128 and 4096 bits. DSA keys must be between 512 and 1024

bits and an exact multiple of 64. HMAC-MD5 keys must be

between 1 and 512 bits.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-n <replaceable class="parameter">nametype</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Specifies the owner type of the key. The value of

<option>nametype</option> must either be ZONE (for a DNSSEC

zone key), HOST or ENTITY (for a key associated with a host),

or USER (for a key associated with a user). These values are

case insensitive.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-c <replaceable class="parameter">class</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Indicates that the DNS record containing the key should have

the specified class. If not specified, class IN is used.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-e</term>

<listitem>

<para>

If generating an RSA key, use a large exponent.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-g <replaceable class="parameter">generator</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

If generating a Diffie Hellman key, use this generator.

Allowed values are 2 and 5. If no generator

is specified, a known prime from RFC 2539 will be used

if possible; otherwise the default is 2.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-h</term>

<listitem>

<para>

Prints a short summary of the options and arguments to

<command>dnssec-keygen</command>.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-p <replaceable class="parameter">protocol</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Sets the protocol value for the generated key. The protocol

is a number between 0 and 255. The default is 3 (DNSSEC).

Other possible values for this argument are listed in

RFC 2535 and its successors.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-r <replaceable class="parameter">randomdev</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Specifies the source of randomness. If the operating

system does not provide a <filename>/dev/random</filename>

or equivalent device, the default source of randomness

is keyboard input. <filename>randomdev</filename> specifies

the name of a character device or file containing random

data to be used instead of the default. The special value

<filename>keyboard</filename> indicates that keyboard

input should be used.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-s <replaceable class="parameter">strength</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Specifies the strength value of the key. The strength is

a number between 0 and 15, and currently has no defined

purpose in DNSSEC.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-t <replaceable class="parameter">type</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Indicates the use of the key. <option>type</option> must be

one of AUTHCONF, NOAUTHCONF, NOAUTH, or NOCONF. The default

is AUTHCONF. AUTH refers to the ability to authenticate

data, and CONF the ability to encrypt data.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term>-v <replaceable class="parameter">level</replaceable></term>

<listitem>

<para>

Sets the debugging level.

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</refsect1>

<refsect1>

<title>GENERATED KEYS</title>

<para>

When <command>dnssec-keygen</command> completes successfully,

it prints a string of the form <filename>Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii</filename>

to the standard output. This is an identification string for

the key it has generated. These strings can be used as arguments

to <command>dnssec-makekeyset</command>.

</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>

<para>

<filename>nnnn</filename> is the key name.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

<filename>aaa</filename> is the numeric representation of the

algorithm.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>

<filename>iiiii</filename> is the key identifier (or footprint).

</para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>

<command>dnssec-keygen</command> creates two file, with names based

on the printed string. <filename>Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.key</filename>

contains the public key, and

<filename>Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.private</filename> contains the private

key.

</para>

<para>

The <filename>.key</filename> file contains a DNS KEY record that

can be inserted into a zone file (directly or with a $INCLUDE

statement).

</para>

<para>

The <filename>.private</filename> file contains algorithm specific

fields. For obvious security reasons, this file does not have

general read permission.

</para>

<para>

Both <filename>.key</filename> and <filename>.private</filename>

files are generated for symmetric encryption algorithm such as

HMAC-MD5, even though the public and private key are equivalent.

</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1>

<title>EXAMPLE</title>

<para>

To generate a 768-bit DSA key for the domain

<userinput>example.com</userinput>, the following command would be

issued:

</para>

<para>

<userinput>dnssec-keygen -a DSA -b 768 -n ZONE example.com</userinput>

</para>

<para>

The command would print a string of the form:

</para>

<para>

<userinput>Kexample.com.+003+26160</userinput>

</para>

<para>

In this example, <command>dnssec-keygen</command> creates

the files <filename>Kexample.com.+003+26160.key</filename> and

<filename>Kexample.com.+003+26160.private</filename>

</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1>

<title>SEE ALSO</title>

<para>

<citerefentry>

<refentrytitle>dnssec-makekeyset</refentrytitle>

<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>

</citerefentry>,

<citerefentry>

<refentrytitle>dnssec-signkey</refentrytitle>

<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>

</citerefentry>,

<citerefentry>

<refentrytitle>dnssec-signzone</refentrytitle>

<manvolnum>8</manvolnum>

</citerefentry>,

<citetitle>BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual</citetitle>,

<citetitle>RFC 2535</citetitle>,

<citetitle>RFC 2845</citetitle>,

<citetitle>RFC 2539</citetitle>.

</para>

</refsect1>

<refsect1>

<title>AUTHOR</title>

<para>

<corpauthor>Internet Software Consortium</corpauthor>

</para>

</refsect1>

</refentry>