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• The connections from Controllers to Agents can be secured by HTTPS with TLS/SSL certificates.
• This article describes the steps required to set up secure HTTPS communication from a Controller to an Agent. This includes using a standalone Controller or a Controller cluster with a primary and standby instance.
  • See the JS7 - System Architecture article for an overview of components products and connections.
  • Follow the instructions in the JS7 - JOC Cockpit HTTPS Connections article for securing connections from clients (user browser / REST API client) to JOC Cockpit.
  • See the JS7 - Controller HTTPS Connections article for information about securing the connections between JOC Cockpit and Controller instances.

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• The following explanations assume CA-signed certificates or self-signed certificates to be used.Certificates being used.
  • Private CA
  • CA-signed certificates are provided from known and trusted Certificate Authorities (CA) that validate the domain owner.
  • Self-signed certificates are created by users who operate their own CA, see the JS7 - How to create selfX.509 SSL TLS Certificates.
  • Public CA-signed Certificates are provided from known and trusted Certificate Authorities (CA) that validate the domain owner.
  • Use of Intermediate CA Certificates is optional.
  • There is no difference in using a Private CA or Public CA concerning functionality of X.509 certificates, usage for Server Authentication / Client Authentication, or security of connections. The only difference is that users trust the Private CA that they set up on their own.
• Certificate stores can be managed from the command line and using tools that provide a GUI for this purpose:
  • the Java keytool is available from the Java JRE or JDK,
  • the Keystore Explorer, which is an open source utility to graphically manage certificate stores.
• Starting from Java 9 the PKCS12 keystore type is default and is not required to be specified with keytool.
• The following sections assume a PKCS12 keystore/truststore format. For Unix OS the .p12 file extension frequently is used, for Windows OS the .pfx extension is preferably used. Both file extensions indicate the same PKCS12 format and can be used interchangeably.

Certificate Management

Private keys Keys and certificates Certificates should be distributed as follows:

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• The keystore and truststore shown in orange are required for any connections of a Controller to an Agent.
  • The Agent's private key Private Key and certificate Certificate for Server Authentication are added to the Agent's keystore.
  • The Root CA Certificate is added to the Agent's truststore.
• The keystore and truststore shown in green are required if mutual authentication is in place for certificate based Client Authentication (default).

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• On the Agent server create the keystore using openssl and the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK. Alternatively import a private key Private Key and certificate Certificate that you received from your Certificate Authority:
  • For use with a third 3rd-party utility create a keystore, e.g. https-keystore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
    • the Agent private key Private Key and certificate Certificate for Server Authentication
  • The examples below show a possible approach for certificate management. However, there are other ways to achieve similar results.

    • Example for importing a private key Private Key and CA-signed certificate Certificate to a PKCS12 keystore:

      Code Block
      language bash title Example how to import a private key Private Key and CA-signed certificate Certificate to a PKCS12 keystore
      # Assume the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Agent server to be "agent.example.com" # If the Agent's CA-signed certificateCertificate is provided from a pkcs12 keystore (certificate.p12), extract the certificate to a .crt file in PEM format (agent.example.com.crt) # openssl pkcs12 -in certificate.p12 -nokeys -out agent.example.com.crt # Import the Agent's privatePrivate keyKey (agent.example.com.key) and certificateCertificate (agent.example.com.crt) from PEM format to a new keystore (agent.example.comhttps-keystore.p12) openssl pkcs12 -export -in agent.example.com.crt -inkey agent.example.com.key --name agent.example.com -out "JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.p12"

    • Example for creating a private key Private Key and selfCA-signed certificate Certificate and import to a keystore

      • Refer to examples available from JS7 - How to create self-signed X.509 SSL TLS Certificates, chapter Creating a Server Certificate.

        Code Block
        language bash title Example how to create a private key Private Key and selfCA-signed certificateCertificate
        # Creating the privatePrivate keyKey and selfCA-signed certificate for the given validity period ./create_server_certificate.sh --dns=agent.example.com --days=365

      • Refer to examples available from JS7 - How to add SSL TLS Certificates to Keystore and Truststore.

        Code Block
        title Example how to add a private key Private Key and selfCA-signed certificate Certificate to a PKCS12 keystore
        # Adding the privatePrivate keyKey and certificateCertificate to a keystore ./js7_create_certificate_store.sh \ --keystore=JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.p12 \ --key=agent.example.com.key \ --cert=agent.example.com.crt \ --alias=agent.example.com \ --password="jobscheduler"

        
        When using additional arguments a truststore will be immediately created:

        Code Block
        title Example how to add a private key Private Key and selfCA-signed certificate Certificate to a PKCS12 keystore and the Root CA Certificate to a truststore
        # Adding the privatePrivate keyKey and certificateCertificate to a keystore and Root CA Certificate to a truststore ./js7_create_certificate_store.sh \ --keystore=JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-keystore.p12 \   --truststore=JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-truststore.p12 \    --key=agent.example.com.key \ --cert=agent.example.com.crt \ --alias=agent.example.com \ --password="jobscheduler" \ --ca-root=root-ca.crt

  • With the keystore being set up specify the relevant properties with the JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf configuration file:

    • Example

      Code Block
      language text title Example for private.conf file specifying the Agent keystore
      js7 { web { # keystore and truststore locations for https connections https { keystore { # Default: ${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-keystore.p12" file=${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-keystore.p12" key-password="jobscheduler" store-password="jobscheduler" } } } }

      
      

      Explanation:
      • js7.web.https.keystore.file is used for the path to the keystore.
      • js7.web.https.keystore.key-password is is used for access to the private keyPrivate Key.
      • js7.web.https.keystore.store-password is used for access to the keystore. Passwords for key access and keystore access have to match if a PKCS12 keystore type is used.
        
        
• On the Agent instance's server create the keystore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or a third 3rd-party utility.
  • For use with a third 3rd-party utility create a truststore, e.g. https-truststore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
    • Root CA Certificate
  • The examples below show a possible approach for certificate management - however, there are other ways of achieving similar results.

    • Example for importing a Root CA Certificate to a PKCS12 keystoretruststore:

      Code Block
      language bash title Example how to import a Root CA Certificate to a PKCS12 keystoretruststore
      # Import Root CA Certificate in PEM format to a PKCS12 truststore (https-truststore.p12) keytool -importcert -alias "root-ca" -file "root-ca.crt" -keystore "JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-truststore.p12" -storetype PKCS12

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• On the Controller server create the truststore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or a third 3rd-party utility.
  • For use with a third 3rd-party utility create a truststore, e.g. https-truststore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
    • the Root CA Certificate
  • The examples below show a possible approach for certificate management. However, there are other ways to achieve similar results.
    

    • Example for importing a Root CA Certificate to a PKCS12 truststore:

      Code Block
      language bash title Example how to import a Root CA Certificate into a PKCS12 Truststore
      # import Root CA certificateCertificate in PEM format to a PKCS12 truststore (https-truststore.p12) keytool -importcert -alias "root-ca" -file "root-ca.crt" -keystore "JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/https-truststore.p12" -storetype PKCS12

• On the Controller server specify the location of the truststore with the JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf configuration file:

  • Example

    Code Block
    language text title Example for private.conf file specifying the Controller truststore
    js7 { web { # keystore and truststore locations for https connections https { truststores=[ { # Default: ${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-truststore.p12" file=${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-truststore.p12" store-password="jobscheduler" } ] } } }

    
    

    Explanation:
    • js7.web.https.truststores.file is used for the path to the truststore.
    • js7.web.https.truststores.store-password is used for access to the truststore.

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For mutual authentication the Controller has to hold a Client Authentication private key Private Key and certificate Certificate in its keystore.

• This can be simplified by using a private keyPrivate Key/certificate Certificate pair that is created for both extended key uses Server Authentication and Client Authentication. In this case a single private key Private Key and certificate Certificate is stored with the Controller's keystore as indicated in the the JS7 - Controller HTTPS Connections article.
• If separate private keyPrivate Key/certificate Certificate pairs for Server Authentication and Client Authentication are used then the use of separate certificate stores for the Controller is recommended:
  • The keystore holds the private keyPrivate Key/certificate Certificate for Server Authentication.
  • The client keystore holds the private key/certificate holds the Private Key/Certificate for Client Authentication.

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• On the Controller server create the client keystore using the keytool from your Java JRE or JDK or a third 3rd-party utility.
  • For use with a third 3rd-party utility create a client keystore, e.g. https-client-keystore.p12, in PKCS12 format and import:
    • the Controller private key and certificate for Client Private Key and Certificate for Client Authentication
  • For use with keytool create the client keystore in PKCS12 or JKS format according to the steps indicated in the JS7 - Controller HTTPS Connections: Step 1: Creating the Controller Keystore article.
    • Apply the steps described to the client keystore and use the private keyPrivate Key/certificate Certificate pair for Client Authentication.

• The location of the client keystore is added to the JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf configuration file as shown:

  • Example for PKCS12 client keystore:

    Code Block
    language text title Example how to specify the client keystore location with private.conf file
    js7 { web { # keystore and truststore location for https connections https { client-keystore { # Default: ${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-client-keystore.p12" file=${js7.config-directory}"/private/https-client-keystore.p12" key-password="jobscheduler" store-password="jobscheduler" } } } }

Notes

• A restart of the relevant components is products is required to apply modifications to the Agent's JS7_AGENT_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf file and the Controller's JS7_CONTROLLER_CONFIG_DIR/private/private.conf file.

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Resources

• JS7 - JOC Cockpit HTTPS Connections
• JS7 - Controller HTTPS Connections
• JS7 - Configuration Templates
  • JS7 - Configuration for mutual HTTPS Server Authentication and Client Authentication
  • JS7 - Configuration for HTTP Basic Authentication with Passwords
  • JS7 - Configuration for HTTPS Server Authentication with Passwords
• JS7 - How to create self-signed X.509 SSL TLS Certificates
• JS7 - How to add SSL TLS Certificates to Keystore and Truststore

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