DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)NAMEdnssec-keygen - DNSSEC key generation tool
SYNOPSISdnssec-keygen-a algorithm -b keysize -n nametype [ -c
class ] [ -e ] [ -g generator ] [ -h ] [ -p protocol ]
[ -r randomdev ] [ -s strength ] [ -t type ] [ -v level
] name
DESCRIPTIONdnssec-keygen 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-a algorithm
Selects 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.
Note that for DNSSEC, DSA is a mandatory to imple-
ment algorithm, and RSA is recommended. For TSIG,
HMAC-MD5 is mandatory.
-b keysize
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 mul-
tiple of 64. HMAC-MD5 keys must be between 1 and
512 bits.
-n nametype
Specifies 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.
-c class
Indicates that the DNS record containing the key
should have the specified class. If not specified,
class IN is used.
-e If generating an RSA key, use a large exponent.
-g generator
If generating a Diffie Hellman key, use this gener-
ator. 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 Prints a short summary of the options and arguments
to dnssec-keygen.
-p protocol
Sets the protocol value for the generated key. The
protocol 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 suc-
cessors.
-r randomdev
Specifies the source of randomness. If the operat-
ing system does not provide a /dev/random or equiv-
alent device, the default source of randomness is
keyboard input. randomdev 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
Specifies the strength value of the key. The
strength is a number between 0 and 15, and cur-
rently has no defined purpose in DNSSEC.
-t type
Indicates 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
Sets the debugging level.
GENERATED KEYS
When dnssec-keygen completes successfully, it prints a
string of the form Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii to the standard out-
put. This is an identification string for the key it has
generated. These strings can be used as arguments to
dnssec-makekeyset.
o nnnn is the key name.
o aaa is the numeric representation of the algorithm.
o iiiii is the key identifier (or footprint).
dnssec-keygen creates two file, with names based on the
printed string. Knnnn.+aaa+iiiii.key contains the public
key, and 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.
EXAMPLE
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
In this example, dnssec-keygen creates the files Kexam-
ple.com.+003+26160.key and Kexample.com.+003+26160.private
SEE ALSOdnssec-makekeyset(8), dnssec-signkey(8), dnssec-sign-
zone(8), BIND 9 Administrator Reference Manual, RFC 2535,
RFC 2845, RFC 2539.
AUTHOR
Internet Software Consortium
BIND9 June 30, 2000 DNSSEC-KEYGEN(8)
