Chapter 10. Running self-tests


Red Hat Certificate System has the added functionality to allow self-tests of the server. The self-tests are run at startup and can also be run on demand. The startup self-tests run when the server starts and keep the server from starting if a critical self-test fails.

10.1. Running self-tests

The on-demand self-tests for the TPS system are run from the web services page.

To run TPS self-tests from the command-line interface (CLI):

  • pki tps-selftest-find
  • pki tps-selftest-run
  • pki tps-selftest-show

10.2. Self-test logging

A separate log, selftest.log, is added to the log directory that contains reports for both the start up self-tests and the on-demand self-tests. This log is configured by changing the setting for the log in the CS.cfg file. See the Modifying Self-Test Configuration.

10.3. Configuring POSIX system ACLs

POSIX system access control rules provide finer granularity over system user permissions. These ACLs must be set for each instance after it is fully configured. For more details on ACLs, see the corresponding chapter in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide.

Modern file systems like ext4 and XFS enable ACLs by default, and are most likely used on modern Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations.

  1. Stop the instance.

    # pki-server stop instance_name
  2. Set the group readability to the pkiadmin group for the instance’s directories and files.

    # setfacl -R -L -m g:pkiadmin:r,d:g:pkiadmin:r /var/lib/pki/instance_name
  3. Apply execute (x) ACL permissions on all directories:

    # find -L /var/lib/pki/instance_name -type d -exec setfacl -L -n -m g:pkiadmin:rx,d:g:pkiadmin:rx {} \;
  4. Remove group readability for the pkiadmin group from the instance’s signedAudit/ directory and its associated files:

    # setfacl -R -L -x g:pkiadmin,d:g:pkiadmin /var/lib/pki/ instance_name/logs/signedAudit
  5. Set group readability for the pkiaudit group for the instance’s signedAudit/ directory and its associated files:

    # setfacl -R -L -m g:pkiaudit:r,d:g:pkiaudit:r /var/lib/pki/ instance_name/logs/signedAudit
  6. Re-apply execute (x) ACL permissions on the signedAudit/ directory and all of its subdirectories:

    # find -L /var/lib/pki/ instance_name/logs/signedAudit -type d -exec setfacl -L -n -m g:pkiaudit:rx,d:g:pkiaudit:rx {} \;
  7. Start the instance.

    pki-server start instance_name
  8. Confirm that the file access controls were properly applied by using the getfacl command to show the current ACL settings:

    # getfacl /var/lib/pki/instance_name /var/lib/pki/ instance_name/subsystem_type/logs/signedAudit/
    getfacl: Removing leading '/' from absolute path names
    # file: var/lib/pki/instance_name
    # owner: pkiuser
    # group: pkiuser
    user::rwx
    group::rwx
    group:pkiadmin:r-x
    mask::rwx
    other::r-x
    default:user::rwx
    default:group::rwx
    default:group:pkiadmin:r-x
    default:mask::rwx
    default:other::r-x
    
    # file: var/lib/pki/ instance_name/logs/signedAudit
    # owner: pkiuser
    # group: pkiaudit
    user::rwx
    group::rwx
    group:pkiaudit:r-x
    mask::rwx
    other::---
    default:user::rwx
    default:group::rwx
    default:group:pkiaudit:r-x
    default:mask::rwx
    default:other::---
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