Cryptography - Generate key file(s)

Declaration

<AMGENERATEKEYFILES KEYCONTAINERNAME="Filename"
KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="text [options]" 
PRIKEYFILE="Keyname" PUBKEYFILE="Keyname"/>

Description: Generates public and private key files from the specified key container.

Practical Usage

This action can be used as a task step following Create key container activity to properly generate public and private key files. Other cryptography actions (e.g., Sign and Encrypt) can follow this step allowing the procedure of encrypting and decrypting files to be fully automated.

General Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Key Container Name

Text

Yes

(Empty)

KEYCONTAINERNAME="Automate"

Specifies the name of the key container to identify which public/private key to use. Clicking the Select Key Container button will open a key container browser in which to select a container from.

Key Container Level

Text (Options)

Yes

User

  1. KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="user"

  2. KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="machine"

 

Specifies whether to use a machine-level or user-level RSA key container. Microsoft Windows makes machine-level key containers available to all users, whereas a user-level key container is available only to the user that created (or imported) the key container. This parameter is active only if the Decrypt using parameter is set to Key Container. The available options are:

  • User (Default)

  • Machine

Public key file

Text

Yes

(Empty)

PUBKEYFILE="c:\publicfile.pub"

The path and file name of the public key to be generated.

Overwrite if public key file exists

Yes/No

No

No

OVERWRITEPUBKEYFILE="YES"

If set to YES, indicates that if a public key file with the same name already exists in the location to store the new public key, the existing file will be overwritten. If set to NO, the matching file will not be overwritten, however, a runtime error will be thrown as a result.

Private key file

Text

Yes

(Empty)

PRIKEYFILE="c:\privatefile.pri"

The path and file name of the private key to be generated.

Overwrite Private key file

Yes/No

No

No

OVERWRITEPRIKEYFILE="YES"

If set to YES, indicates that if a private key file with the same name already exists in the location to store the new private key, the existing file will be overwritten. If set to NO, the matching file will not be overwritten, however, a runtime error will be thrown as a result.

Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.

Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)

On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)

Comparing Machine-Level and User-Level RSA Key Containers

User-level RSA key containers are stored with the Windows user profile for a particular user and can be used to encrypt and decrypt information for applications that run under that specific user identity. User-level RSA key containers can be useful if you want to ensure that the RSA key information is removed when the Windows user profile is removed. However, because you must be logged in with the specific user account that makes use of the user-level RSA key container to encrypt or decrypt protected configuration sections, they are inconvenient to use.

Machine-level RSA key containers are available to all users that can log in to a computer, by default, and are the most useful as you can use them to encrypt or decrypt protected configuration sections while logged in with an administrator account. A machine-level RSA key container can be used to protect information for a single application, all the applications on a server, or a group of applications on a server that run under the same user identity. Although machine-level RSA key containers are available to all users, they can be secured with NTFS Access Control Lists (ACLs) so that only required users can access them.

Examples

The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Example 1: Generate USER Level Key Files

<AMDELETEKEYCONTAINER KEYCONTAINERNAME="marie.black" 
KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="USER" />

Example 2: Generate MACHINE Level Key Files

<AMDELETEKEYCONTAINER KEYCONTAINERNAME="JavaWebStart" 
KEYCONTAINERLEVEL="MACHINE" />