diff --git a/docs/documentation/platform/pki/pki-issuer.mdx b/docs/documentation/platform/pki/pki-issuer.mdx new file mode 100644 index 000000000..44b2cd4fb --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/documentation/platform/pki/pki-issuer.mdx @@ -0,0 +1,247 @@ +--- +title: "Kubernetes Issuer" +sidebarTitle: "Certificates for Kubernetes" +description: "Learn how to automatically provision and manage TLS certificates for in Kubernetes using Infisical PKI" +--- + +## Concept + +The Infisical PKI Issuer is an installable Kubernetes [cert-manager](https://cert-manager.io/) controller that uses Infisical PKI to sign certificate requests. The issuer is perfect for getting X.509 certificates for ingresses and other Kubernetes resources and capable of automatically renewing certificates as needed. + +As part of the workflow, you install `cert-manager`, the Infisical PKI Issuer, and configure resources to represent the connection details to your Infisical PKI and the certificates you wish to issue. Each issued certificate and corresponding private key is made available in a Kubernetes secret. + +We recommend reading the [cert-manager documentation](https://cert-manager.io/docs/) for a fuller understanding of all the moving parts. + +## Workflow + +A typical workflow for using the Infisical PKI Issuer to issue certificates for your Kubernetes resources consists of the following steps: + +1. Creating a machine identity in Infisical. +2. Creating a Kubernetes secret to store the credentials of the machine identity. +3. Installing `cert-manager` into your Kubernetes cluster. +4. Installing the Infisical PKI Issuer controller into your Kubernetes cluster. +5. Creating an `Issuer` or `ClusterIssuer` resource in your Kubernetes cluster to represent the Infisical PKI issuer you wish to use. +6. Creating a `Certificate` resource in your Kubernetes cluster to represent a certificate you wish to issue. As part of this step, you specify the Kubernetes `Secret` to create and store the issued certificate and private key. +7. Consuming the issued certificate across your Kubernetes resources from the specified Kubernetes `Secret`. + +## Guide + +In the following steps, we explore how to install the Infisical PKI Issuer using [kubectl](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubectl) and use it to obtain certificates for your Kubernetes resources. + + + + + Follow the instructions [here](/documentation/platform/identities/universal-auth) to configure a [machine identity](/documentation/platform/identities/machine-identities) in Infisical with Universal Auth. + + By the end of this step, you should have a **Client ID** and **Client Secret** on hand as part of the Universal Auth configuration for the Infisical PKI Issuer to authenticate with Infisical; this will be useful in steps 4 and 5. + + + Currently, the Infisical PKI Issuer only supports authenticating with Infisical via the [Universal Auth](/documentation/platform/identities/universal-auth) authentication method. + + We're planning to add support for [Kubernetes Auth](/documentation/platform/identities/kubernetes-auth) in the near future. + + + + Install `cert-manager` into your Kubernetes cluster by following the instructions [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/installation/) or by running the following command: + + ```bash + kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.15.3/cert-manager.yaml + ``` + + + Install the Infisical PKI Issuer controller into your Kubernetes cluster by running the following command: + + ```bash + kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Infisical/infisical-issuer/main/build/install.yaml + ``` + + + Start by creating a Kubernetes `Secret` containing the **Client Secret** from step 1. As mentioned previously, this will be used by the Infisical PKI issuer to authenticate with Infisical. + + + + ```bash + kubectl create secret generic issuer-infisical-client-secret \ + --namespace \ + --from-literal=clientSecret= + ``` + + + ```yaml secret-issuer.yaml + apiVersion: v1 + kind: Secret + metadata: + name: issuer-infisical-client-secret + namespace: + data: + clientSecret: + ``` + + ```bash + kubectl apply -f secret-issuer.yaml + ``` + + + + + Next, create the Infisical PKI Issuer by filling out `url`, `clientId`, either `caId` or `certificateTemplateId`, and applying the following configuration file for the `Issuer` resource. + This configuration file specifies the connection details to your Infisical PKI CA to be used for issuing certificates. + + ```yaml infisical-issuer.yaml + apiVersion: infisical-issuer.infisical.com/v1alpha1 + kind: Issuer + metadata: + name: issuer-infisical + namespace: + spec: + url: "https://app.infisical.com" # the URL of your Infisical instance + caId: # the ID of the CA you want to use to issue certificates + certificateTemplateId: # the ID of the certificate template you want to use to issue certificates against + authentication: + universalAuth: + clientId: # the Client ID from step 1 + secretRef: # reference to the Secret created in step 4 + name: "issuer-infisical-client-secret" + key: "clientSecret" + ``` + + ``` + kubectl apply -f infisical-issuer.yaml + ``` + + + The Infisical PKI Issuer supports issuing certificates against a specific CA or a specific certificate template. + + For this reason, you should only fill in the `caId` or the `certificateTemplateId` field but not both. + + We recommend using the `certificateTemplateId` field to issue certificates against a specific [certificate template](/documentation/platform/pki/certificate-templates) + since templates let you enforce constraints on issued certificates and may have alerting policies bound to them. + + + You can check that the issuer was created successfully by running the following command: + + ```bash + kubectl get issuers.infisical-issuer.infisical.com -n -o wide + ``` + + ```bash + NAME AGE + issuer-infisical 21h + ``` + + + An `Issuer` is a namespaced resource, and it is not possible to issue certificates from an `Issuer` in a different namespace. + This means you will need to create an `Issuer` in each namespace you wish to obtain `Certificates` in. + + If you want to create a single `Issuer` that can be consumed in multiple namespaces, you should consider creating a `ClusterIssuer` resource. This is almost identical to the `Issuer` resource, however is non-namespaced so it can be used to issue `Certificates` across all namespaces. + + You can read more about the `Issuer` and `ClusterIssuer` resources [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/configuration/). + + + + + Finally, create a `Certificate` by applying the following configuration file. + This configuration file specifies the details of the (end-entity/leaf) certificate to be issued. + + ```yaml certificate-issuer.yaml + apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1 + kind: Certificate + metadata: + name: certificate-by-issuer + namespace: + spec: + commonName: certificate-by-issuer.example.com # the common name for the certificate + secretName: certificate-by-issuer # the name of the Kubernetes Secret to create and store the certificate and private key in + issuerRef: + name: issuer-infisical + group: infisical-issuer.infisical.com + kind: Issuer + privateKey: # the algorithm and key size to use + algorithm: ECDSA + size: 256 + duration: 48h # the ttl for the certificate + renewBefore: 12h # the time before the certificate expiry that the certificate should be automatically renewed + ``` + + The above sample configuration file specifies a certificate to be issued with the common name `certificate-by-issuer.example.com` and ECDSA private key using the P-256 curve, valid for 48 hours; the certificate will be automatically renewed by `cert-manager` 12 hours before expiry. + The certificate is issued by the issuer `issuer-infisical` created in the previous step and the resulting certificate and private key will be stored in a secret named `certificate-by-issuer`. + + Note that the full list of the fields supported on the `Certificate` resource can be found in the API reference documentation [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/reference/api-docs/#cert-manager.io/v1.CertificateSpec). + + You can check that the certificate was created successfully by running the following command: + + ```bash + kubectl get certificates -n -o wide + ``` + + ```bash + NAME READY SECRET ISSUER STATUS AGE + certificate-by-issuer True certificate-by-issuer issuer-infisical Certificate is up to date and has not expired 20h + ``` + + + Since the actual certificate and private key are stored in a Kubernetes secret, we can check that the secret was created successfully by running the following command: + + ```bash + kubectl get secret certificate-by-issuer -n + ``` + + ```bash + NAME TYPE DATA AGE + certificate-by-issuer kubernetes.io/tls 2 26h + ``` + + We can `describe` the secret to get more information about it: + + ```bash + kubectl describe secret certificate-by-issuer -n default + ``` + + ```bash + Name: certificate-by-issuer + Namespace: default + Labels: controller.cert-manager.io/fao=true + Annotations: cert-manager.io/alt-names: + cert-manager.io/certificate-name: certificate-by-issuer + cert-manager.io/common-name: certificate-by-issuer.example.com + cert-manager.io/ip-sans: + cert-manager.io/issuer-group: infisical-issuer.infisical.com + cert-manager.io/issuer-kind: Issuer + cert-manager.io/issuer-name: issuer-infisical + cert-manager.io/uri-sans: + + Type: kubernetes.io/tls + + Data + ==== + tls.key: 227 bytes + tls.crt: 912 bytes + ``` + + We can decode the certificate and print it out using `openssl`: + + ```bash + kubectl get secret certificate-by-issuer -n default -o jsonpath='{.data.tls\.crt}' | base64 --decode | openssl x509 -text -noout + ``` + + In any case, the certificate is ready to be used as Kubernetes Secret by your Kubernetes resources. + + + +## FAQ + + + + The full list of the fields supported on the `Certificate` resource can be found in the API reference documentation [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/reference/api-docs/#cert-manager.io/v1.CertificateSpec). + + + Currently, not all fields are supported by the Infisical PKI Issuer. + + + + Yes. `cert-manager` will automatically renew certificates according to the `renewBefore` threshold of expiry as + specified in the corresponding `Certificate` resource. + + You can read more about the `renewBefore` field [here](https://cert-manager.io/docs/reference/api-docs/#cert-manager.io/v1.CertificateSpec). + + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/docs/mint.json b/docs/mint.json index 5d14db36d..c26245def 100644 --- a/docs/mint.json +++ b/docs/mint.json @@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ "documentation/platform/pki/private-ca", "documentation/platform/pki/certificates", "documentation/platform/pki/certificate-templates", + "documentation/platform/pki/pki-issuer", "documentation/platform/pki/est", "documentation/platform/pki/alerting" ]