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Extract the first 5 issuer per-connector deep-dive pages: - vault.md (128 lines) — Vault PKI synchronous issuance, token TTL + auto-renewal loop, MaxTTL enforcement, rotation playbook - digicert.md (106 lines) — CertCentral DV/OV/EV with bounded async polling for vetting workflows - aws-acm-pca.md (165 lines) — managed private CA on AWS with full IAM policy, IRSA wiring, troubleshooting matrix - ejbca.md (116 lines) — open-source / Keyfactor EJBCA with mTLS or OAuth2 auth, mTLS keypair caching, approval-pending guidance - adcs.md (111 lines) — Active Directory Certificate Services as enterprise root via Local CA sub-CA mode, sub-CA rotation playbook Index updated with forward-list entries and the index-purpose blurb revised so the index now positions itself as 'navigate from here; deeper material lives in siblings' rather than 'docs to be extracted later'. Each per-page follows the WHAT/HOW/WHY pattern: what the connector is, how authentication and issuance work, and when to choose this vs an alternative. Cross-links to the connector index, async-ca-polling primitive, and adjacent operator runbooks. This is part 1 of 4 for the Phase 4 follow-on (per-connector page extraction) tracked in cowork/docs-overhaul-phase-2-restructure-2026-05-04/log.md. Net add: 5 files, 626 lines. No content removed from index.md (the index keeps its inline reference; per-pages add operator depth on top, matching the pattern set by apache/f5/iis/k8s/nginx in Phase 4 structural).
117 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
117 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
# EJBCA (Keyfactor) Issuer Connector — Operator Deep-Dive
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> Last reviewed: 2026-05-05
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>
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> Operator-grade documentation for the EJBCA issuer connector. For
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> the connector-development context (interface contract, registry,
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> ports/adapters), see the [connector index](index.md).
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## Overview
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The EJBCA connector calls the EJBCA REST API for self-hosted
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open-source and Keyfactor enterprise CAs. It supports dual
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authentication: mTLS (default) or OAuth2 Bearer token, selectable
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via configuration.
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Implementation lives at `internal/connector/issuer/ejbca/`.
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## When to use this connector
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Use the EJBCA connector when:
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- You already run EJBCA Community Edition or Keyfactor EJBCA
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Enterprise as your internal CA and want certctl to drive the
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lifecycle automation (renewal, deployment, alerts) on top.
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- You need EJBCA's certificate-profile and end-entity-profile
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policy enforcement — those policies stay in EJBCA and certctl
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passes the profile names through.
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- You need approval-pending workflows (humans approve enrollments)
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— EJBCA supports the 201-Accepted async path.
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Look elsewhere when:
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- You want a simpler internal CA without EJBCA's operational weight
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— Vault PKI, step-ca, or the Local CA issuer are lighter.
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- You need a managed CA (no servers to run) — Google CAS or AWS
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ACM PCA on cloud, or DigiCert / Sectigo for commercial PKI.
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## Configuration
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| Setting | Required | Default | Description |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_API_URL` | Yes | — | EJBCA REST API base URL |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_AUTH_MODE` | No | `mtls` | Auth mode: `mtls` or `oauth2` |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_CLIENT_CERT_PATH` | mTLS | — | Path to client certificate PEM (mTLS mode) |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_CLIENT_KEY_PATH` | mTLS | — | Path to client key PEM (mTLS mode) |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_TOKEN` | OAuth2 | — | Bearer token (oauth2 mode) |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_CA_NAME` | Yes | — | EJBCA CA name |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_CERT_PROFILE` | No | — | EJBCA certificate profile |
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| `CERTCTL_EJBCA_EE_PROFILE` | No | — | EJBCA end-entity profile |
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## Authentication
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Configurable via `auth_mode`:
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- **`mtls`** — client certificate and key are loaded for the TLS
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handshake. This is the default and the more common deployment
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mode for EJBCA.
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- **`oauth2`** — the token is sent as `Authorization: Bearer
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{token}`. Use when EJBCA is fronted by an OAuth2-aware reverse
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proxy or when integrating with Keyfactor's identity provider.
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The mTLS keypair is cached on the connector after the first API
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call and reused for the lifetime of the process; rotation is
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picked up automatically via mtime polling on the cert file (see
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the mtls keypair caching note in the [connector
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index](index.md#built-in-ejbca-keyfactor)).
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## Issuance model
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`POST /v1/certificate/pkcs10enroll` with base64-encoded CSR.
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Returns base64-encoded certificate PEM. EJBCA 9.3+ creates
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end-entity and issues cert in a single call. Approval-pending
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enrollments return 201 with a tracking ID; certctl's
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`GetOrderStatus` polls until the certificate is available.
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## Revocation
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EJBCA requires both issuer DN and serial number for revocation.
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The connector stores these as a composite `OrderID` in
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`issuer_dn::serial` format.
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CRL and OCSP are managed by the EJBCA instance. certctl records
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revocations locally and notifies EJBCA via
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`PUT /v1/certificate/{issuer_dn}/{serial}/revoke`.
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## Operator playbook
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### mTLS rotation without downtime
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`mv -f new.crt /etc/certctl/ejbca/client.crt` (mtime changes), no
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process restart required. The next API call re-parses the file
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and rebuilds the `*http.Transport`. `os.Stat` errors during
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rotation surface as connector errors rather than silently serving
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stale credentials.
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### Switching from mTLS to OAuth2
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Update the issuer config via `PUT /api/v1/issuers/{id}` with the
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new `auth_mode: oauth2` and `token`. The registry's Rebuild path
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replaces the connector without restart. Prior issuance state
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(serial numbers, cert state) is unaffected.
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### Diagnosing approval-pending hangs
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If `GetOrderStatus` consistently times out, the operator approval
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queue in EJBCA is the most common cause. Bump
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`CERTCTL_EJBCA_POLL_MAX_WAIT_SECONDS` so a single tick can wait
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through the full approval window — see
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[async-ca-polling.md](../protocols/async-ca-polling.md) for the
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schedule shape.
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## Related docs
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- [Connector index](index.md) — interface contract, registry, port/adapter wiring
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- [Async CA polling](../protocols/async-ca-polling.md) — bounded-polling primitive
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- [Approval workflow](../../operator/approval-workflow.md) — certctl-side two-person integrity (separate from EJBCA's approval queue, but addresses the same shape of risk on the certctl side)
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