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  • Leigh B. Stoller's avatar
    SSL version of the XMLRPC server. · a9c1045e
    Leigh B. Stoller authored
    * SSL based server (sslxmlrpc_server.py) that wraps the existing Python
      classes (what we export via the existing ssh XMLRPC server). I also have a
      demo client that is analogous the ssh demo client (sslxmlrpc_client.py).
      This client looks for an ssl cert in the user's .ssl directory, or you can
      specify one on the command line. The demo client is installed on ops, and
      is in the downloads directory with the rest of the xmlrpc stuff we export
      to users. The server runs as root, forking a child for each connection and
      logs connections to /usr/testbed/log/sslxmlrpc.log via syslog.
    
    * New script (mkusercert) generates SSL certs for users. Two modes of
      operation; when called from the account creation path, generates a
      unencrypted private key and certificate for use on Emulab nodes (this is
      analagous to the unencrypted SSH key we generate for users). The other mode
      of operation is used to generate an encrypted private key so that the user
      can drag a certificate to their home/desktop machine.
    
    * New webpage (gensslcert.php3) linked in from the My Emulab page that
      allows users to create a certificate. The user is prompted for a pass
      phrase to encrypt the private key, as well as the user's current Emulab
      login password. mkusercert is called to generate the certificate, and the
      result is stored in the user's ~/.ssl directory, and spit back to the user
      as a text file that can be downloaded and placed in the users homedir on
      their local machine.
    
    * The server needs to associate a certificate with a user so that it can
      flip to that user in the child after it forks. To do that, I have stored
      the uid of the user in the certificate. When a connection comes in, I grab
      the uid out of the certificate and check it against the DB. If there is a
      match (see below) the child does the usual setgid,setgroups,setuid to the
      user, instantiates the Emulab server class, and dispatches the method. At
      the moment, only one request per connection is dispatched. I'm not sure
      how to do a persistant connection on the SSL path, but probably not a big
      deal right now.
    
    * New DB table user_sslcerts that stores the PEM formatted certificates and
      private keys, as well as the serial number of the certificate, for each
      user. I also mark if the private key is encrypted or not, although not
      making any use of this data. At the moment, each user is allowed to get
      one unencrypted cert/key pair and one encrypted cert/key pair. No real
      reason except that I do not want to spend too much time on this until we
      see how/if it gets used. Anyway, the serial number is used as a crude form
      of certificate revocation. When the connection is made, I suck the serial
      number and uid out of the certificate, and look for a match in the table.
      If cert serial number does not match, the connection is rejected. In other
      words, revoking a certificate just means removing its entry from the DB
      for that user. I could also compare the certificate itself, but I am not
      sure what purpose that would serve since that is what the SSL handshake is
      supposed to take of, right?
    
    * Updated the documentation for the XMLRPC server to mention the existence
      of the SSL server and client, with a pointer into the downloads directory
      where users can pick up the client.
    a9c1045e