Chapter 20. Configuring custom SSL/TLS certificates

You can manually configure the undercloud to use SSL/TLS for communication over public endpoints. When you manually configure undercloud endpoints with SSL/TLS, you are creating secure endpoints as a proof-of-concept. Red Hat recommends using a certificate authority solution.

When you use a certificate authority (CA) solution, you have production ready solutions such as a certificate renewals, certificate revocation lists (CRLs), and industry accepted cryptography. For information on using Red Hat Identity Manager (IdM) as a CA, see Implementing TLS-e with Ansible.

If want to you use a SSL certificate with your own certificate authority, you must complete the following configuration steps.

20.1. Initializing the signing host

The signing host is the host that generates and signs new certificates with a certificate authority. If you have never created SSL certificates on the chosen signing host, you might need to initialize the host so that it can sign new certificates.

Procedure

  1. The /etc/pki/CA/index.txt file contains records of all signed certificates. Ensure that the filesystem path and index.txt file are present:

    $ sudo mkdir -p /etc/pki/CA
    $ sudo touch /etc/pki/CA/index.txt
  2. The /etc/pki/CA/serial file identifies the next serial number to use for the next certificate to sign. Check if this file exists. If the file does not exist, create a new file with a new starting value:

    $ echo '1000' | sudo tee /etc/pki/CA/serial

20.2. Creating a certificate authority

Normally you sign your SSL/TLS certificates with an external certificate authority. In some situations, you might want to use your own certificate authority. For example, you might want to have an internal-only certificate authority.

Procedure

  1. Generate a key and certificate pair to act as the certificate authority:

    $ openssl genrsa -out ca.key.pem 4096
    $ openssl req  -key ca.key.pem -new -x509 -days 7300 -extensions v3_ca -out ca.crt.pem
  2. The openssl req command requests certain details about your authority. Enter these details at the prompt. These commands create a certificate authority file called ca.crt.pem.
  3. Set the certificate location as the value for the PublicTLSCAFile parameter in the enable-tls.yaml file. When you set the certificate location as the value for the PublicTLSCAFile parameter, you ensure that the CA certificate path is added to the clouds.yaml authentication file.

    parameter_defaults:
        PublicTLSCAFile: /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/cacert.pem

20.3. Adding the certificate authority to clients

For any external clients aiming to communicate using SSL/TLS, copy the certificate authority file to each client that requires access to your Red Hat OpenStack Platform environment.

Procedure

  1. Copy the certificate authority to the client system:

    $ sudo cp ca.crt.pem /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/
  2. After you copy the certificate authority file to each client, run the following command on each client to add the certificate to the certificate authority trust bundle:

    $ sudo update-ca-trust extract

20.4. Creating an SSL/TLS key

Enabling SSL/TLS on an OpenStack environment requires an SSL/TLS key to generate your certificates.

Procedure

  1. Run the following command to generate the SSL/TLS key (server.key.pem):

    $ openssl genrsa -out server.key.pem 2048

20.5. Creating an SSL/TLS certificate signing request

Complete the following steps to create a certificate signing request.

Procedure

  1. Copy the default OpenSSL configuration file:

    $ cp /etc/pki/tls/openssl.cnf .
  2. Edit the new openssl.cnf file and configure the SSL parameters that you want to use for director. An example of the types of parameters to modify include:

    [req]
    distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
    req_extensions = v3_req
    
    [req_distinguished_name]
    countryName = Country Name (2 letter code)
    countryName_default = AU
    stateOrProvinceName = State or Province Name (full name)
    stateOrProvinceName_default = Queensland
    localityName = Locality Name (eg, city)
    localityName_default = Brisbane
    organizationalUnitName = Organizational Unit Name (eg, section)
    organizationalUnitName_default = Red Hat
    commonName = Common Name
    commonName_default = 192.168.0.1
    commonName_max = 64
    
    [ v3_req ]
    # Extensions to add to a certificate request
    basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
    keyUsage = nonRepudiation, digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
    subjectAltName = @alt_names
    
    [alt_names]
    IP.1 = 192.168.0.1
    DNS.1 = instack.localdomain
    DNS.2 = vip.localdomain
    DNS.3 = 192.168.0.1

    Set the commonName_default to one of the following entries:

    • If you are using an IP address to access director over SSL/TLS, use the undercloud_public_host parameter in the undercloud.conf file.
    • If you are using a fully qualified domain name to access director over SSL/TLS, use the domain name.

    Edit the alt_names section to include the following entries:

    • IP - A list of IP addresses that clients use to access director over SSL.
    • DNS - A list of domain names that clients use to access director over SSL. Also include the Public API IP address as a DNS entry at the end of the alt_names section.
    Note

    For more information about openssl.cnf, run the man openssl.cnf command.

  3. Run the following command to generate a certificate signing request (server.csr.pem):

    $ openssl req -config openssl.cnf -key server.key.pem -new -out server.csr.pem

    Ensure that you include your OpenStack SSL/TLS key with the -key option.

This command generates a server.csr.pem file, which is the certificate signing request. Use this file to create your OpenStack SSL/TLS certificate.

20.6. Creating the SSL/TLS certificate

To generate the SSL/TLS certificate for your OpenStack environment, the following files must be present:

openssl.cnf
The customized configuration file that specifies the v3 extensions.
server.csr.pem
The certificate signing request to generate and sign the certificate with a certificate authority.
ca.crt.pem
The certificate authority, which signs the certificate.
ca.key.pem
The certificate authority private key.

Procedure

  1. Create the newcerts directory if it does not already exist:

    sudo mkdir -p /etc/pki/CA/newcerts
  2. Run the following command to create a certificate for your undercloud or overcloud:

    $ sudo openssl ca -config openssl.cnf -extensions v3_req -days 3650 -in server.csr.pem -out server.crt.pem -cert ca.crt.pem -keyfile ca.key.pem

    This command uses the following options:

    -config
    Use a custom configuration file, which is the openssl.cnf file with v3 extensions.
    -extensions v3_req
    Enabled v3 extensions.
    -days
    Defines how long in days until the certificate expires.
    -in'
    The certificate signing request.
    -out
    The resulting signed certificate.
    -cert
    The certificate authority file.
    -keyfile
    The certificate authority private key.

This command creates a new certificate named server.crt.pem. Use this certificate in conjunction with your OpenStack SSL/TLS key

20.7. Adding the certificate to the undercloud

Complete the following steps to add your OpenStack SSL/TLS certificate to the undercloud trust bundle.

Procedure

  1. Run the following command to combine the certificate and key:

    $ cat server.crt.pem server.key.pem > undercloud.pem

    This command creates a undercloud.pem file.

  2. Copy the undercloud.pem file to a location within your /etc/pki directory and set the necessary SELinux context so that HAProxy can read it:

    $ sudo mkdir /etc/pki/undercloud-certs
    $ sudo cp ~/undercloud.pem /etc/pki/undercloud-certs/.
    $ sudo semanage fcontext -a -t etc_t "/etc/pki/undercloud-certs(/.*)?"
    $ sudo restorecon -R /etc/pki/undercloud-certs
  3. Add the undercloud.pem file location to the undercloud_service_certificate option in the undercloud.conf file:

    undercloud_service_certificate = /etc/pki/undercloud-certs/undercloud.pem

    Do not set or enable the generate_service_certificate and certificate_generation_ca parameters. Director uses these parameters to automatically generate a certificate instead of using the undercloud.pem certificate you created manually.

  4. Add the certificate authority that signed the certificate to the list of trusted Certificate Authorities on the undercloud so that different services within the undercloud have access to the certificate authority:

    $ sudo cp ca.crt.pem /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/
    $ sudo update-ca-trust extract

    To verify the certificate authority was added to the undercloud, use openssl to check the trust bundle:

    $ openssl crl2pkcs7 -nocrl -certfile /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt | openssl pkcs7 -print_certs -text | grep <CN of the CA issuer> -A 10 -B 10
    • Replace <CN of the CA issuer> with the common name of the issuer of the CA. This command outputs the main certificate details, including the validity dates.