Ubuntu Manpage: SKS - Synchronizing Key Server

NAME

       SKS - Synchronizing Key Server

SYNOPSIS

       sks [options] -debug

DESCRIPTION

       SKS is a OpenPGP keyserver whose goal is to provide easy to deploy, decentralized, and
       highly reliable synchronization. That means that a key submitted to one SKS server will
       quickly be distributed to all key servers, and even wildly out-of-date servers, or servers
       that experience spotty connectivity, can fully synchronize with rest of the system.

       The design of SKS is deliberately simple. The server consists of two single-threaded
       processes. The first, "sks db", fulfills the normal jobs associated with a public key
       server, such as answering web requests. The only special functionality of "sks db" is that
       it keeps a log summarizing the changes to the key database. "sks recon" does all the work
       with respect to reconciling hosts databases. "sks recon" keeps track of specialized
       summary information about the database, and can use that information to efficiently
       determine the differences between its database and that of another host.

FEATURES

       Highly efficient and reliable reconciliation algorithm

       Follows RFC2440 and RFC2440bis carefully - unlike PKS, SKS supports new and old style
       packets, photoID packets, multiple subkeys, and pretty much everything allowed by the
       RFCs.

       Fully compatible with PKS system - can both send and receive syncs from PKS servers,
       ensuring seamless connectivity.

       Simple configuration:  each host just needs a (partial) list of the other participating
       key servers. Gossip is used to distribute information without putting a heavy load an any
       one host.

       Supports HKP/web-based querying, and soon-to-be-standard machine readable indices

OPTIONS

SKS binary command options are as follows:

db
Initiates database server.

recon
Initiates reconciliation server.

cleandb
Apply filters to all keys in database, fixing some common problems.

build
Build key database, including body of keys directly in database.

fastbuild -n [size] -cache [mbytes]
Build key database, doesn't include keys directly in database, faster than build. -n
specifies the number of keydump files to read per pass when used with build and the
multiple of 15,000 keys to be read per pass when used with fastbuild. -cache
specifies the database cache to use in megabytes.

pbuild -cache [mbytes] -ptree_cache [mbytes]
Build prefix-tree database, used by reconciliation server, from key database. Allows
for specification of cache for key database and for ptree database.

dump numkeys dumpdir <filename-prefix>
Create a raw dump of the keys in the database. The dump is split into multiple files;
the numkeys parameter determines the number of keys dumped in each file. The optional
filename-prefix is prepended to the dump file names. Without it the dump files are
named 0000.pgp, 0001.pgp,...

merge
Adds key from key files to existing database.

drop
Drops key from database.

update_subkeys [-n # of updates / 1000]
Updates subkey keyid index to include all current keys. Only useful when upgrading
versions 1.0.4 or before of SKS.

version
prints SKS version and linked version of Berkeley DB to stdout

help
Prints the help message.

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

You won't need most of the options below for normal operation. These options can be given
in basedir/sksconf or as command line option for the sks binary.

-debug
Debugging mode.

-debuglevel
Debugging level -- sets verbosity of logging.

-q
Number of bits defining a bin.

-mbar
Number of errors that can be corrected in one shot.

-seed
Seed used by RNG.

-hostname
Current hostname.

-d
Number of keys to drop at random when synchronizing.

-n
Number of keydump files to load at once.

-max_internal_matches
Maximum number of matches for most specific word in a multi-word search.

-max_matches
Maximum number of matches that will be returned from a query.

-max_uid_fetches
Maximum number of uid fetches performed in a verbose index query.

-pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chucks for key db.

-keyid_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chucks for keyid db.

-meta_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chucks for metadata db.

-subkeyid_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chucks for subkeyid db.

-time_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chucks for time db.

-tqueue_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chucks for tqueue db.

-word_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chunks for word db.

-cache
Cache size in megs for key db.

-ptree_pagesize
Pagesize in 512 byte chunks for prefix tree db.

-ptree_cache
Cache size in megs for prefix tree db.

-baseport
Set base port number.

-recon_port
Set recon port number.

-recon_address
Set recon binding addresses. Can be a list of whitespace separated IP addresses or
domain names.

-hkp_port
Set hkp port number.

-hkp_address
Set hkp binding addresses. Can be a list of whitespace separated IP addresses or
domain names.

-use_port_80
Have the HKP interface listen on port 80, as well as the hkp_port.

-basedir
Set base directory.

-stdoutlog
Send log messages to stdout instead of log file.

-diskptree
Use a disk-based ptree implementation. Slower, but requires far less memory.

-nodiskptree
Use in-mem ptree.

-max_ptree_nodes
Maximum number of allowed ptree nodes. Only meaningful if -diskptree is set.

-prob
Set probability. Used for testing code only.

-recon_sync_interval
Set sync interval for reconserver.

-gossip_interval
Set time between gossips in minutes.

-dontgossip
Don't gossip automatically. Host will still respond to requests from other hosts.

-db_sync_interval
Set sync interval for dbserver.

-checkpoint_interval
Time period between checkpoints.

-recon_checkpoint_interval
Time period between checkpoints for reconserver.

-ptree_thresh_mult
Multiple of thresh which specifies minimum node size in prefix tree.

-recon_thresh_mult
Multiple of thresh which specifies minimum node size that is included in
reconciliation.

-max_recover
Maximum number of differences to recover in one round.

-http_fetch_size
Number of keys for reconserver to fetch from dbserver in one go.

-wserver_timeout
Timeout in seconds for webserver requests.

-reconciliation_timeout
Timeout for reconciliation runs in minutes.

-stat_hour
Hour at which to run database statistics.

-initial_stat
Runs database statistics calculation on boot.

-reconciliation_config_timeout
Set timeout in seconds for initial exchange of config info in reconciliation.

-missing_keys_timeout
Timeout in seconds for get_missing_keys.

-command_timeout
Timeout in seconds for commands set over command socket.

-sendmail_cmd
Command used for sending mail.

-from_addr
From address used in synchronization emails used to communicate with PKS.

-dump_new_only
When doing a database dump, only dump new keys, not keys already contained in a
keydump file.

-max_outstanding_recon_requests
Maximum number of outstanding requests in reconciliation.

-membership_reload_interval
Maximum interval (in hours) at which membership file is reloaded.

-disable_mailsync
Disable sending of PKS mailsync messages. ONLY FOR STANDALONE SERVERS! THIS IS THE
MECHANIASM FOR SENDING UPDATES TO NON-SKS SERVERS.

-disable_log_diffs
Disable logging of recent hashset diffs.

-server_contact
Set OpenPGP KeyID of the server contact

--help, -help
-stdin
Read keyids from stdin (sksclient only)

Displays list of options.

FILES

       Information about important files located in your SKS basedir.

       bin/sks
           The main SKS executable.

       bin/sks_add_mail
           The executable responsible for parsing incoming mails from PKS key servers.

       bin/sks_build.sh
           Script to generate an initial database.

       mailsync
           The mailsync should contains a list of email addresses of PKS keyservers. This file is
           important, because it ensures that keys submitted directly to an SKS keyserver are
           also forwarded to PKS keyservers. IMPORTANT : don't add someone to your mailsync file
           without getting their permission first!

       membership
           With SKS, two hosts can efficiently compare their databases then repair whatever
           differences are found.  In order to set up reconciliation, you first need to find
           other SKS servers that will agree to gossip with you. The hostname and port of the
           server that has agreed to do so should be added to this file.

       sksconf
           The configuration file for your SKS server.

EXAMPLES

       membership
            keyserver.ahost.org 11370 # Comments are allowed
            keyserver.foo.org 11370   # Another host with default ports

       sksconf
            membership_reload_interval: 1
            initial_stat:
            hostname: keyserver.example.com
            from_addr: pgp-public-keys@keyserver.example.com

       Procmail
            PATH=/path/of/sks/exectuables
            :0
            * ^Subject: incremental
            | /path/of/sks_add_mail /path/to/sks/directory

       /etc/aliases
            pgp-public-keys:      "|/path/of/sks_add_mail /path/to/sks/directory"

AUTHOR

       The first draft was written by Thomas Sjogren <thomas@northernsecurity.net>.