admin-guide: add section explaining master keys

Adds a section under encryption which goes into detail on how to
use a master key to store and recover backup encryption keys.

Signed-off-by: Dylan Whyte <d.whyte@proxmox.com>
This commit is contained in:
Dylan Whyte 2020-08-06 12:03:31 +02:00 committed by Dietmar Maurer
parent 5f76ac37b5
commit 16a18dadba

View File

@ -677,6 +677,8 @@ extra protection, you can also create it without a password:
# proxmox-backup-client key create /path/to/my-backup.key --kdf none
Having created this key, it is now possible to create an encrypted backup, by
passing the ``--keyfile`` parameter, with the path to the key file.
.. code-block:: console
@ -685,12 +687,95 @@ extra protection, you can also create it without a password:
Encryption Key Password: **************
...
.. Note:: If you do not specify the name of the backup key, the key will be
created in the default location
``~/.config/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.json``. ``proxmox-backup-client``
will also search this location by default, in case the ``--keyfile``
parameter is not specified.
You can avoid entering the passwords by setting the environment
variables ``PBS_PASSWORD`` and ``PBS_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD``.
.. todo:: Explain master-key
Using a master key to store and recover encryption keys
^^^^^^^^^^
You can also use ``proxmox-backup-client key`` to create an RSA public/private
key pair, which can be used to store an encrypted version of the symmetric
backup encryption key alongside each backup and recover it later.
To set up a master key:
1. Create an encryption key for the backup:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client key create
creating default key at: "~/.config/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.json"
Encryption Key Password: **********
...
The resulting file will be saved to ``~/.config/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.json``.
2. Create an RSA public/private key pair:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client key create-master-key
Master Key Password: *********
...
This will create two files in your current directory, ``master-public.pem``
and ``master-private.pem``.
3. Import the newly created ``master-public.pem`` public certificate, so that
``proxmox-backup-client`` can find and use it upon backup.
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client key import-master-pubkey /path/to/master-public.pem
Imported public master key to "~/.config/proxmox-backup/master-public.pem"
4. With all these files in place, run a backup job:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client backup etc.pxar:/etc
The key will be stored in your backup, under the name ``rsa-encrypted.key``.
.. Note:: The ``--keyfile`` parameter can be excluded, if the encryption key
is in the default path. If you specified another path upon creation, you
must pass the ``--keyfile`` parameter.
5. To test that everything worked, you can restore the key from the backup:
.. code-block:: console
# proxmox-backup-client restore /path/to/backup/ rsa-encrypted.key /path/to/target
.. Note:: You should not need an encryption key to extract this file. However, if
a key exists at the default location
(``~/.config/proxmox-backup/encryption-key.json``) the program will prompt
you for an encryption key password. Simply moving ``encryption-key.json``
out of this directory will fix this issue.
6. Then, use the previously generated master key to decrypt the file:
.. code-block:: console
# openssl rsautl -decrypt -inkey master-private.pem -in rsa-encrypted.key -out /path/to/target
Enter pass phrase for ./master-private.pem: *********
7. The target file will now contain the encryption key information in plain
text. The success of this can be confirmed by passing the resulting ``json``
file, with the ``--keyfile`` parameter, when decrypting files from the backup.
.. warning:: Without their key, backed up files will be inaccessible. Thus, you should
keep keys ordered and in a place that is separate from the contents being
backed up. It can happen, for example, that you back up an entire system, using
a key on that system. If the system then becomes inaccessable for any reason
and needs to be restored, this will not be possible as the encryption key will be
lost along with the broken system.
Restoring Data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~