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Rollover Recipes

ZSK Rollover Recipe

This recipe covers how to perform a ZSK rollover using what is known as the Pre-Publication method. For other ZSK rolling methods, please see the section called “ZSK Rollover Methods” in Chapter 6, Advanced Discussions.

Below is the timeline for a ZSK rollover to occur on January 1st, 2017:

  1. December 1st, 2016, a month before rollover

    • Generate new ZSK
    • Add DNSKEY for new ZSK to zone
  2. January 1st, 2017, day of rollover

    • New ZSK used to replace RRSIGs for the bulk of the zone
  3. February 1st, 2017

    • Remove old ZSK DNSKEY RRset from zone
    • DNSKEY signatures made with KSK are changed

The current active ZSK has the ID 17694 in this example. For more information on key management (such as what inactive date is, and why 30 days for example), please see the section called “Key Management”.

One Month Before ZSK Rollover

On December 1st, 2016, a month before the planned rollover, you should change the parameters on the current key (17694) to become inactive on January 1st, 2017, and be deleted from the zone on February 1st, 2017, as well as generate a successor key (51623):

# cd /etc/bind/keys/example.com/
# dnssec-settime -I 20170101 -D 20170201 Kexample.com.+008+17694
./Kexample.com.+008+17694.key
./Kexample.com.+008+17694.private
# dnssec-keygen -S Kexample.com.+008+17694
Generating key pair..++++++ ...........++++++ 
Kexample.com.+008+51623

The first command gets us into the key directory /etc/bind/keys/example.com/, where keys for example.com are stored.

The second dnssec-settime sets an inactive (-I) date of January 1st, 2017, and a deletion (-D) date of February 1st, 2017 for the current ZSK (Kexample.com.+008+17694).

Then the third command dnssec-keygen creates a successor key, using the exact same parameters (algorithms, key sizes, etc.) as the current ZSK. The new ZSK created in our example is Kexample.com.+008+51623.

Don't forget to make sure the successor keys are readable by named.

You can see in named's logging messages informing you when the next key checking event is scheduled to occur, the frequency of which can be controlled by dnssec-loadkeys-interval. The log message looks like this:

zone example.com/IN (signed): next key event: 01-Dec-2016 00:13:05.385

And you can check the publish date of the key by looking at the key file:

# cd /etc/bind/keys/example.com
# cat Kexample.com.+008+51623.key 
; This is a zone-signing key, keyid 11623, for example.com.
; Created: 20161130160024 (Mon Dec  1 00:00:24 2016)
; Publish: 20161202000000 (Fri Dec  2 08:00:00 2016)
; Activate: 20170101000000 (Sun Jan  1 08:00:00 2017)
...

Since the publish date is set to the morning of December 2nd, the next morning you will notice that your zone has gained a new DNSKEY record, but the new ZSK is not yet being used to generate signatures. Below is the abbreviated output with shortened DNSKEY and RRSIG when querying the authoritative name server, 192.168.1.13:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. DNSKEY +dnssec +multiline

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.		600 IN DNSKEY 257 3 8 (
				AwEAAcWDps...lM3NRn/G/R
				) ; KSK; alg = RSASHA256; key id = 6817
example.com.		600 IN DNSKEY 256 3 8 (
				AwEAAbi6Vo...qBW5+iAqNz
				) ; ZSK; alg = RSASHA256; key id = 51623
example.com.		600 IN DNSKEY 256 3 8 (
				AwEAAcjGaU...0rzuu55If5
				) ; ZSK; alg = RSASHA256; key id = 17694
example.com.		600 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 8 2 600 (
				20170101000000 20161201230000 6817 example.com.
				LAiaJM26T7...FU9syh/TQ= )
example.com.		600 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 8 2 600 (
				20170101000000 20161201230000 17694 example.com.
				HK4EBbbOpj...n5V6nvAkI= )
...

And for good measures, let's take a look at the SOA record and its signature for this zone. Notice the RRSIG is signed by the current ZSK 17694. This will come in handy later when you want to verify whether or not the new ZSK is in effect:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. SOA +dnssec +multiline

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.		600 IN SOA ns1.example.com. admin.example.com. (
				2016120102 ; serial
				1800       ; refresh (30 minutes)
				900        ; retry (15 minutes)
				2419200    ; expire (4 weeks)
				300        ; minimum (5 minutes)
				)
example.com.		600 IN RRSIG SOA 8 2 600 (
				20161230160109 20161130150109 17694 example.com.
				YUTC8rFULaWbW+nAHzbfGwNqzARHevpryzRIJMvZBYPo
				NAeejNk9saNAoCYKWxGJ0YBc2k+r5fYq1Mg4ll2JkBF5
				buAsAYLw8vEOIxVpXwlArY+oSp9T1w2wfTZ0vhVIxaYX
				6dkcz4I3wbDx2xmG0yngtA6A8lAchERx2EGy0RM= )

These are all the manual tasks you need to perform for a ZSK rollover. If you have followed the configuration examples in this guide of using inline-signing and auto-dnssec, everything else is automated for you.

Day of ZSK Rollover

On the actual day of the rollover, although there is technically nothing for you to do, you should still keep an eye on the zone to make sure new signatures are being generated by the new ZSK (51623 in this example). The easiest way is to query the authoritative name server 192.168.1.13 for the SOA record like you did a month ago:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. SOA +dnssec +multiline

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.		600 IN SOA ns1.example.com. admin.example.com. (
				2016112011 ; serial
				1800       ; refresh (30 minutes)
				900        ; retry (15 minutes)
				2419200    ; expire (4 weeks)
				300        ; minimum (5 minutes)
				)
example.com.		600 IN RRSIG SOA 8 2 600 (
				20170131000000 20161231230000 51623 example.com.
				J4RMNpJPOmMidElyBugJp0RLqXoNqfvo/2AT6yAAvx9X
				zZRL1cuhkRcyCSLZ9Z+zZ2y4u2lvQGrNiondaKdQCor7
				uTqH5WCPoqalOCBjqU7c7vlAM27O9RD11nzPNpVQ7xPs
				y5nkGqf83OXTK26IfnjU1jqiUKSzg6QR7+XpLk0= )
...

As you can see, the signature generated by the old ZSK (17694) disappeared, replaced by a new signature generated from the new ZSK (51623).

Life Time of the Signatures

Not all signatures will disappear magically on the same day, depending on when each one is generated. Worst case scenario is that a new signature could have been signed by the old ZSK (17695) moments before it was deactivated, thus the signature could live for almost 30 more days, all the way up to right before February 1st.

This is why it is important that you should keep the old ZSK in the zone for a little bit longer and not delete it right away.

One Month After ZSK Rollover

Again, technically there should be nothing you need to do on this day, but it doesn't hurt to verify that the old ZSK (17694) is now completely gone from your zone. named will not touch Kexample.com.+008+17694.private and Kexample.com.+008+17694.key on your file system. Running the same dig command for DNSKEY should suffice:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. DNSKEY +multiline +dnssec

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.		600 IN DNSKEY 257 3 8 (
				AwEAAcWDps...lM3NRn/G/R
				) ; KSK; alg = RSASHA256; key id = 6817
example.com.		600 IN DNSKEY 256 3 8 (
				AwEAAdeCGr...1DnEfX+Xzn
				) ; ZSK; alg = RSASHA256; key id = 51623
example.com.		600 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 8 2 600 (
				20170203000000 20170102230000 6817 example.com.
				KHY8P0zE21...Y3szrmjAM= )
example.com.		600 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 8 2 600 (
				20170203000000 20170102230000 51623 example.com.
				G2g3crN17h...Oe4gw6gH8= )
...

Congratulations, the ZSK rollover is complete! As for the actual key files (the .key and .private files), they may be deleted at this point, but it's not required.

KSK Rollover Recipe

This recipe describes how to perform KSK rollover using the Double-DS method. For other KSK rolling methods, please see the section called “KSK Rollover Methods” in Chapter 6, Advanced Discussions. The registrar used in this recipe is GoDaddy . Also for this recipe, we are keeping the number of DS records down to just one per active set using just SHA-1, for the sake of better clarity, although in practice most zone operators choose to upload 2 DS records as we have shown in the section called “Working with Parent Zone”. For more information on key management (such as what inactive date is, and why 30 days for example), please see the section called “Key Management”.

Below is the timeline for a KSK rollover to occur on January 1st, 2017:

  1. December 1st, 2016, a month before rollover

    • Change timer on the current KSK
    • Generate new KSK and DS records
    • Add DNSKEY for the new KSK to zone
    • Upload new DS records to parent zone
  2. January 1st, 2017, day of rollover

    • Use the new KSK to sign all DNSKEY RRset, this generates new RRSIGs
    • Add new RRSIGs to the zone
    • Remove RRSIG for the old ZSK from zone
    • Start using the new KSK to sign DNSKEY
  3. February 1st, 2017

    • Remove the old KSK DNSKEY from zone
    • Remove old DS records from parent zone

The current active KSK has the ID 24828, and this is the DS record that has already been published by the parent zone:

# dnssec-dsfromkey -a SHA-1 Kexample.com.+007+24828.key
example.com. IN DS 24828 7 1 D4A33E8DD550A9567B4C4971A34AD6C4B80A6AD3

One Month Before KSK Rollover

On December 1st, 2016, a month before the planned rollover, you should change the parameters on the current key to become inactive on January 1st, 2017, and be deleted from the zone on February 1st, 2017, as well as generate a successor key (23550). Finally, you should generate a new DS record based on the new key 23550:

# cd /etc/bind/keys/example.com/
# dnssec-settime -I 20170101 -D 20170201 Kexample.com.+007+24828
./Kexample.com.+007+24848.key
./Kexample.com.+007+24848.private
# dnssec-keygen -S Kexample.com.+007+24848
Generating key pair.......................................................................................++ ...................................++ 
Kexample.com.+007+23550
# dnssec-dsfromkey -a SHA-1 Kexample.com.+007+23550.key
example.com. IN DS 23550 7 1 54FCF030AA1C79C0088FDEC1BD1C37DAA2E70DFB

The first command gets us into the key directory /etc/bind/keys/example.com/, where keys for example.com are stored.

The second dnssec-settime sets an inactive (-I) date of January 1st, 2017, and a deletion (-D) date of February 1st, 2017 for the current KSK (Kexample.com.+007+24848).

Then the third command dnssec-keygen creates a successor key, using the exact same parameters (algorithms, key sizes, etc.) as the current KSK. The new key pair created in our example is Kexample.com.+007+23550.

The fourth and final command dnssec-dsfromkey creates a DS record from the new KSK (23550), using SHA-1 as the digest type. Again, in practice most people generate two DS records for both supported digest types (SHA-1 and SHA-256), but for our example here we are only using one to keep the output small and hopefully clearer.

Don't forget to make sure the successor keys are readable by named.

You can see in syslog the messages informing you when the next key checking event is, and it looks like this:

zone example.com/IN (signed): next key event: 01-Dec-2016 00:13:05.385

And you can check the publish date of the key by looking at the key file:

# cd /etc/bind/keys/example.com
# cat Kexample.com.+007+23550.key
; This is a key-signing key, keyid 23550, for example.com.
; Created: 20161130160024 (Thu Dec  1 00:00:24 2016)
; Publish: 20161202000000 (Fri Dec  2 08:00:00 2016)
; Activate: 20170101000000 (Sun Jan  1 08:00:00 2017)
...

Since the publish date is set to the morning of December 2nd, the next morning you will notice that your zone has gained a new DNSKEY record based on your new KSK, but no corresponding RRSIG yet. Below is the abbreviated output with shortened DNSKEY and RRSIG when querying the authoritative name server, 192.168.1.13:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. DNSKEY +dnssec +multiline

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.   300 IN DNSKEY 256 3 7 (
                AwEAAdYqAc...TiSlrma6Ef
                ) ; ZSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 29747
example.com.   300 IN DNSKEY 257 3 7 (
                AwEAAeTJ+w...O+Zy9j0m63
                ) ; KSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 24828
example.com.   300 IN DNSKEY 257 3 7 (
                AwEAAc1BQN...Wdc0qoH21H
                ) ; KSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 23550
example.com.   300 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 7 2 300 (
                20161206125617 20161107115617 24828 example.com.
                4y1iPVJOrK...aC3iF9vgc= )
example.com.   300 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 7 2 300 (
                20161206125617 20161107115617 29747 example.com.
                g/gfmPjr+y...rt/S/xjPo= )

...

Any time after you have generated the DS record, you could upload it, you don't have to wait for the DNSKEY to be published in your zone, since this new KSK is not active yet. You could choose to do it immediately after the new DS record has been generated on December 1st, or you could wait until the next day after you have verified that the new DNSKEY record is added to the zone. Below are the screenshots from using GoDaddy's web-based interface to add a new DS record.

  1. After logging in, click the green "Launch" button next to the domain name you want to manage.

    Figure 7.3. Upload DS Record Step #1

    Upload DS Record Step #1

  2. Scroll down to the "DS Records" section and click Manage.

    Figure 7.4. Upload DS Record Step #2

    Upload DS Record Step #2

  3. A dialog appears, displaying the current key (24828). Click "Add DS Record".

    Figure 7.5. Upload DS Record Step #3

    Upload DS Record Step #3

  4. Enter the Key ID, algorithm, digest type, and the digest, then click "Next".

    Figure 7.6. Upload DS Record Step #4

    Upload DS Record Step #4

  5. Address any errors and click "Finish".

    Figure 7.7. Upload DS Record Step #5

    Upload DS Record Step #5

  6. Both DS records are shown. Click "Save".

    Figure 7.8. Upload DS Record Step #6

    Upload DS Record Step #6

Finally, let's verify that the registrar has published the new DS record. This may take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, depending on your parent zone. You could verify whether or not your parent zone has published the new DS record by querying for the DS record of your zone. In the example below, the Google public DNS server 8.8.8.8 is used:

$ dig @8.8.8.8 example.com. DS

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.	21552	IN	DS	24828 7 1 D4A33E8DD550A9567B4C4971A34AD6C4B80A6AD3
example.com.	21552	IN	DS	23550 7 1 54FCF030AA1C79C0088FDEC1BD1C37DAA2E70DFB

You could also query your parent zone's authoritative name servers directly to see if these records have been published. DS records will not show up on your own authoritative zone, so do not query your own name servers for them. In this recipe, the parent zone is .com, so querying a few of the .com name servers is another appropriate verification.

Day of KSK Rollover

If you have followed the examples in this document as described in the section called “Easy Start Guide for Signing Authoritative Zones”, there is technically nothing you need to do manually on the actual day of the rollover. However, you should still keep an eye on the zone to make sure new signature(s) are being generated by the new KSK (23550 in this example). The easiest way is to query the authoritative name server 192.168.1.13 for the same DNSKEY and signatures like you did a month ago:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. DNSKEY +dnssec +multiline

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.   300 IN DNSKEY 256 3 7 (
                AwEAAdYqAc...TiSlrma6Ef
                ) ; ZSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 29747
example.com.   300 IN DNSKEY 257 3 7 (
                AwEAAeTJ+w...O+Zy9j0m63
                ) ; KSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 24828
example.com.   300 IN DNSKEY 257 3 7 (
                AwEAAc1BQN...Wdc0qoH21H
                ) ; KSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 23550
example.com.	300 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 7 2 300 (
				20170201074900 20170101064900 23550 mydnssecgood.org.
				S6zTbBTfvU...Ib5eXkbtE= )
example.com.	300 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 7 2 300 (
				20170105074900 20161206064900 29747 mydnssecgood.org.
				VY5URQA2/d...OVKr1+KX8= )
...

As you can see, the signature generated by the old KSK (24828) disappeared, replaced by a new signature generated from the new KSK (23550).

One Month After KSK Rollover

While the removal of the old DNSKEY from zone should be automated by named, the removal of the DS record is manual. You should make sure the old DNSKEY record is gone from your zone first by querying for the DNSKEY records of the zone, and this time we expect to see one less DNSKEY, namely the key with ID of 24828:

$ dig @192.168.1.13 example.com. DNSKEY +dnssec +multiline

...
;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.	300 IN DNSKEY 256 3 7 (
				AwEAAdYqAc...TiSlrma6Ef
				) ; ZSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 29747
example.com.	300 IN DNSKEY 257 3 7 (
				AwEAAc1BQN...Wdc0qoH21H
				) ; KSK; alg = NSEC3RSASHA1; key id = 23550
example.com.	300 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 7 2 300 (
				20170208000000 20170105230000 23550 mydnssecgood.org.
				Qw9Em3dDok...bNCS7KISw= )
example.com.	300 IN RRSIG DNSKEY 7 2 300 (
				20170208000000 20170105230000 29747 mydnssecgood.org.
				OuelpIlpY9...XfsKupQgc= )
...

Now, we can remove the old DS record for key 24828 from our parent zone. Be careful to remove the correct DS record. If we accidentally removed the new DS record(s) of key ID 23550, it could lead to a problem called "security lameness", as discussed in the section called “Security Lameness”, and may cause users unable to resolve any names in our zone.

  1. After logging in and launched the domain, scroll down to the "DS Records" section and click Manage.

    Figure 7.9. Remove DS Record Step #1

    Remove DS Record Step #1

  2. A dialog appears, displaying both keys (24828 and 23550). Use the far right hand X button to remove the key 24828.

    Figure 7.10. Remove DS Record Step #2

    Remove DS Record Step #2

  3. Key 24828 now appears crossed out, click "Save" to complete the removal.

    Figure 7.11. Remove DS Record Step #3

    Remove DS Record Step #3

Congratulations, the KSK rollover is complete! As for the actual key files (the .key and .private files), they may be deleted at this point, but it's not required.


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