feat(pre-2.1.0): demo data overhaul, examples, migration guides, install script

Pre-2.1.0 adoption polish delivering all four milestones:

A) Demo Data Overhaul — seed_demo.sql rewritten with 35 certs across
   5 issuers, 8 agents, 8 targets, 50+ jobs spanning 90 days, 55+
   audit events, discovery scans, network scan targets, S/MIME cert.

B) Examples Directory — 5 turnkey docker-compose configs:
   acme-nginx, acme-wildcard-dns01, private-ca-traefik,
   step-ca-haproxy, multi-issuer.

C) Migration Guides — migrate-from-certbot.md,
   migrate-from-acmesh.md, certctl-for-cert-manager-users.md.

D) Agent Install Script — install-agent.sh with cross-platform
   support (Linux systemd + macOS launchd), release.yml updated
   for 6-target cross-compilation.

Triple-audited against codebase: 22 factual corrections applied
across docs, examples, and config (env var names, CLI flags, ports,
DNS hook interface, scheduler loop counts, license conversion date).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
shankar0123
2026-03-29 18:26:58 -04:00
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# certctl for cert-manager Users
You run cert-manager inside Kubernetes and it works well for in-cluster certificates. But you also have VMs, bare-metal servers, network appliances, and legacy systems outside the cluster. cert-manager can't reach those. This guide shows how certctl complements cert-manager to give you unified certificate visibility and automation across your entire infrastructure.
## Not a Replacement
cert-manager is the right tool for in-cluster certs. It's tightly integrated with Kubernetes:
- Native CRDs (Certificate, ClusterIssuer, Issuer)
- Automatic cert injection into Ingress and Service objects
- Controller-driven renewal within the cluster
**certctl does not replace this.** Instead, it extends your certificate management to everything outside Kubernetes: VMs, bare metal, network appliances, Windows servers, and legacy systems.
## The Problem
Your setup:
- **cert-manager**: handles all certs in Kubernetes (TLS for Ingress, service-to-service, internal services)
- **Everything else**: NGINX/Apache on VMs, HAProxy load balancers on bare metal, network appliances, Windows servers with IIS — these are managed inconsistently. Maybe Certbot cron jobs, maybe manual renewal, maybe deprecated cert files sitting around.
Result:
- No unified visibility — you don't know when non-Kubernetes certs expire
- Renewal failures go unnoticed until the cert is already expired
- Audit trail fragmented across multiple tools
- Scaling to hundreds of machines becomes impossible
## The Solution
Deploy certctl control plane once (Docker Compose, Kubernetes Helm chart, or self-hosted). Deploy agents on your VMs, bare metal, and network appliances. One dashboard shows:
- **All cert-manager certs** via discovery scanning (agents find cert-manager-issued certs copied to target machines, or scan the cluster directly)
- **All certctl-managed certs** issued by shared issuers (ACME, step-ca, Vault PKI (coming in v2.1), private CA)
- **Unified renewal and deployment** across both worlds
- **Single pane of glass** with expiration timeline, renewal status, deployment verification, audit trail
## How to Set Up
### 1. Install certctl Control Plane
**Option A: Docker Compose** (quickest for evaluation)
```bash
cd /opt/certctl
docker compose up -d
# Dashboard: http://localhost:3000
# API: http://localhost:8080
```
**Option B: Kubernetes** (recommended for prod)
```bash
helm install certctl deploy/helm/certctl/ \
--set auth.apiKey=YOUR_SECURE_KEY
```
### 2. Deploy Agents to Non-Kubernetes Infrastructure
On each VM, bare-metal server, or appliance (via proxy agent):
```bash
# Linux amd64
curl -sSL https://github.com/shankar0123/certctl/releases/download/v2.1.0/certctl-agent-linux-amd64 \
-o /usr/local/bin/certctl-agent
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/certctl-agent
# Config
sudo tee /etc/certctl/agent.env > /dev/null <<EOF
CERTCTL_SERVER_URL=https://certctl-control-plane:8080
CERTCTL_API_KEY=your-api-key
CERTCTL_DISCOVERY_DIRS=/etc/nginx/certs,/etc/ssl,/etc/letsencrypt/live
CERTCTL_KEY_DIR=/var/lib/certctl/keys
EOF
sudo chmod 600 /etc/certctl/agent.env
# Start
sudo systemctl start certctl-agent
```
### 3. Enable Discovery Scanning
Agents scan configured directories and report back all existing certs. In the dashboard:
- **Discovery** page: all found certs grouped by agent
- Claim cert-manager certs to link them with Kubernetes metadata
- Dismiss obsolete certs
### 4. Configure Shared Issuers
Set up the same issuer certctl uses for non-Kubernetes certs:
- **ACME** (Let's Encrypt, for public certs)
- **step-ca** (Smallstep, for internal certs)
- **Vault PKI** (coming in v2.1) (HashiCorp Vault, for enterprise PKI)
- **Private CA** (your own internal root CA)
No new CA infrastructure needed. If cert-manager already uses your CA, certctl points to the same one.
### 5. Create Policies for Non-Kubernetes Certs
Go to **Policies****New Policy**:
- Issuer: shared (ACME, step-ca, Vault (coming in v2.1), private CA)
- Profile: serverAuth for NGINX/Apache/HAProxy, clientAuth for mTLS, emailProtection for S/MIME
- Renewal Threshold: 30 days (default, adjust per SLA)
- Scope: agent groups (VMs, bare metal, appliances)
### 6. View Unified Inventory
**Dashboard** shows:
- Certificate status heatmap (all 1000 certs: cert-manager + certctl)
- Renewal job trends (both types)
- Expiration timeline (30/60/90 days)
- Agent fleet status (all infrastructure)
**Certificates** page filters by issuer (show me all ACME certs, or all step-ca certs):
- cert-manager certs discovered from Kubernetes nodes
- certctl-managed certs on VMs
- Network appliance certs auto-discovered
## Shared Infrastructure
If cert-manager and certctl both use the same CA:
- **ACME**: cert-manager uses ClusterIssuer + certctl uses ACME connector → same Let's Encrypt account, transparent coexistence
- **step-ca**: cert-manager uses external issuer CRD + certctl uses step-ca connector → same provisioner, shared certificate inventory
- **Vault PKI** (coming in v2.1): cert-manager uses external issuer CRD + certctl uses Vault connector → same mount, same audit trail
No conflict. They just issue certs through the same CA. certctl's discovery scanning finds cert-manager-issued certs and shows them alongside certctl-managed ones.
## Key Differences from cert-manager
| Feature | cert-manager | certctl |
|---------|--------------|---------|
| Target | In-cluster (Kubernetes) | Out-of-cluster (VMs, bare metal, appliances) |
| Configuration | CRDs (Certificate, ClusterIssuer, Issuer) | API + Dashboard (JSON REST) |
| Deployment | Injected into Secret objects, mounted by pods | Agent pulls work, deploys via target-specific API (file, service restart, proxy agent) |
| Renewal | Controller watches Certificate CRDs, triggers renewal when needed | Scheduler checks thresholds, agents poll for work |
| Audit | Kubernetes event log | Immutable append-only audit trail |
| Visibility | Per-namespace, per-resource | Fleet-wide, unified inventory |
## Future Integration
On the roadmap (V4): **cert-manager external issuer** — certctl acts as a ClusterIssuer backend for Kubernetes. This would allow cert-manager to request certificates from certctl, which could issue them via any of its connectors (step-ca, Vault, private CA, etc.). Pure integration play; no breaking changes.
For now: cert-manager handles Kubernetes, certctl handles everything else. They coexist seamlessly.
## Next Steps
1. Review [Quick Start](./quickstart.md) for a 5-minute demo
2. Explore [Agents and Targets](./architecture.md#agents-and-targets) for deployment architecture
3. Read about [Discovery Scanning](./quickstart.md#discovery) to auto-find certs
4. Check [Helm Chart](../deploy/helm/certctl/) for production Kubernetes deployment