dnssec-keygen(1M) System Administration Commands dnssec-keygen(1M)
NAME
dnssec-keygen - DNSSEC key generation tool
SYNOPSIS
dnssec-keygen -a algorithm -b keysize -n nametype [-eh] [-c class] [-g generator] [-p protocol] [-r randomdev] [-s strength] [-t type] [-v
level] name
DESCRIPTION
The dnssec-keygen utility 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.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-a algorithm Select the cryptographic algorithm. The value of algorithm must be one of RSAMD5 or RSA, DSA, DH (Diffie Hellman), or HMAC-
MD5. These values are case insensitive. For DNSSEC, DSA is mandatory to implement algorithm and RSA is recommended. For
TSIG, HMAC-MD5 is mandatory.
-b keysize Specify 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.
-c class Indicate that the DNS record containing the key should have the specified class. If not specified, class IN is used.
-e Use a large exponent if generating an RSA key.
-g generator Use this generator if generating a Diffie Hellman key. 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.
-h Print a short summary of the options and arguments to dnssec-keygen.
-n nametype Specify the owner type of the key. The value of nametype 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.
-p protocol Set the protocol value for the generated key. The protocol argument is a number between 0 and 255. The default is 2 (email)
for keys of type USER and 3 (DNSSEC) for all other key types. Other possible values for this argument are listed in RFC
2535 and its successors.
-r randomdev Specify the source of randomness. If the operating system does not provide a /dev/random or equivalent device, the default
source of randomness is keyboard input. The randomdev argument specifies the name of a character device or file containing
random data to be used instead of the default. The special value keyboard indicates that keyboard input should be used.
-s strength Specify the strength value of the key. The strength argument is a number between 0 and 15, and currently has no defined
purpose in DNSSEC.
-t type Indicate the use of the key. type 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.
-v level Set the debugging level.
GENERATED KEYS
When dnssec-keygen completes successfully, it prints a string of the form Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii to the standard output. This is an identifica-
tion string for the key it has generated. These strings can be used as arguments to dnssec-makekeyset(1M).
o nnnn is the key name.
o aaa is the numeric representation of the algorithm.
o iiiii is the key identifier (or footprint).
The dnssec-keygen utility creates two file, with names based on the printed string.
o Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.key contains the public key.
o Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.private contains the private key.
The .key file contains a DNS KEY record that can be inserted into a zone file (directly or with a $INCLUDE statement).
The .private file contains algorithm specific fields. For obvious security reasons, this file does not have general read permission.
Both .key and .private files are generated for symmetric encryption algorithm such as HMAC-MD5, even though the public and private key are
equivalent.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Generate a 768-bit DSA key for the domain example.com.
To generate a 768-bit DSA key for the domain example.com, the following command would be issued:
dnssec-keygen -a DSA -b 768 -n ZONE example.com
The command would print a string of the form:
Kexample.com.+003+26160
Example 2: Create the files Kexample.com.+003+26160.key and Kexample.com.+003+26160.private.
In the following example, dnssec-keygen creates the files Kexample.com.+003+26160.key and Kexample.com.+003+26160.private
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|Availability |SUNWbind9 |
|Interface Stability |External |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
dnssec-makekeyset(1M), dnssec-signkey(1M), dnssec-signzone(1M), attributes(5)
RFC 2535, RFC 2845, RFC 2539
BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual
NOTES
Source for BIND9 is available in the SUNWbind9S package.
SunOS 5.10 15 Dec 2004 dnssec-keygen(1M)