openssh_keypair – Generate OpenSSH private and public keys

From Get docs
Ansible/docs/2.8/modules/openssh keypair module


openssh_keypair – Generate OpenSSH private and public keys

New in version 2.8.


Synopsis

  • This module allows one to (re)generate OpenSSH private and public keys. It uses ssh-keygen to generate keys. One can generate rsa, dsa, rsa1, ed25519 or ecdsa private keys.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • ssh-keygen

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments

attributes

string

added in 2.3

The attributes the resulting file or directory should have.

To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system.

This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr.

The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string.


aliases: attr

comment

string

Provides a new comment to the public key. When checking if the key is in the correct state this will be ignored.

force

boolean

  • no

  • yes

Should the key be regenerated even if it already exists

group

string

Name of the group that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.

mode

string

The permissions the resulting file or directory should have.

For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must either add a leading zero so that Ansible's YAML parser knows it is an octal number (like 0644 or 01777) or quote it (like '644' or '1777') so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number.

Giving Ansible a number without following one of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results.

As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, u+rwx or u=rw,g=r,o=r).

owner

string

Name of the user that should own the file/directory, as would be fed to chown.

path

path / required

Name of the files containing the public and private key. The file containing the public key will have the extension .pub.

selevel

string

Default:

"s0"

The level part of the SELinux file context.

This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range.

When set to _default, it will use the level portion of the policy if available.

serole

string

The role part of the SELinux file context.

When set to _default, it will use the role portion of the policy if available.

setype

string

The type part of the SELinux file context.

When set to _default, it will use the type portion of the policy if available.

seuser

string

The user part of the SELinux file context.

By default it uses the system policy, where applicable.

When set to _default, it will use the user portion of the policy if available.

size

integer

Specifies the number of bits in the private key to create. For RSA keys, the minimum size is 1024 bits and the default is 4096 bits. Generally, 2048 bits is considered sufficient. DSA keys must be exactly 1024 bits as specified by FIPS 186-2. For ECDSA keys, size determines the key length by selecting from one of three elliptic curve sizes: 256, 384 or 521 bits. Attempting to use bit lengths other than these three values for ECDSA keys will cause this module to fail. Ed25519 keys have a fixed length and the size will be ignored.

state

string

  • present

  • absent

Whether the private and public keys should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated.

type

string

  • rsa

  • dsa
  • rsa1
  • ecdsa
  • ed25519

The algorithm used to generate the SSH private key. rsa1 is for protocol version 1. rsa1 is deprecated and may not be supported by every version of ssh-keygen.

unsafe_writes

boolean

added in 2.2

  • no

  • yes

Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target file.

By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target files, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted files, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner.

This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating files when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn't force Ansible to perform unsafe writes).

IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.



Examples

# Generate an OpenSSH keypair with the default values (4096 bits, rsa)
- openssh_keypair:
    path: /tmp/id_ssh_rsa

# Generate an OpenSSH rsa keypair with a different size (2048 bits)
- openssh_keypair:
    path: /tmp/id_ssh_rsa
    size: 2048

# Force regenerate an OpenSSH keypair if it already exists
- openssh_keypair:
    path: /tmp/id_ssh_rsa
    force: True

# Generate an OpenSSH keypair with a different algorithm (dsa)
- openssh_keypair:
    path: /tmp/id_ssh_dsa
    type: dsa

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description

filename

string

changed or success

Path to the generated SSH private key file


Sample:

/tmp/id_ssh_rsa

fingerprint

string

changed or success

The fingerprint of the key.


Sample:

SHA256:r4YCZxihVjedH2OlfjVGI6Y5xAYtdCwk8VxKyzVyYfM

public_key

string

changed or success

The public key of the generated SSH private key


Sample:

ssh-rsa AAAAB3Nza(...omitted...)veL4E3Xcw== test_key

size

integer

changed or success

Size (in bits) of the SSH private key


Sample:

4096

type

string

changed or success

Algorithm used to generate the SSH private key


Sample:

rsa




Status

Authors

  • David Kainz (@lolcube)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.


© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.8/modules/openssh_keypair_module.html