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extending-expired-ca-cert.md

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layout post
title Extending Expired CA Certificate
date 2025-08-06
summary How to extend the expiration date of the Puppet CA certificate

Using an OpenBolt module

If you're using OpenBolt in your environment, there's a ca_extend module designed for this task. Follow the module’s documentation to perform the extension in a supported and automated way.

Manual process

The ca_extend repository also includes a standalone extend.sh script that can be run manually to generate a new CA certificate with an extended expiration date.

The script performs the following steps:

  1. Sets up a temporary SSL environment.
  2. Generates a new CA certificate with the expiration set 15 years into the future.
  3. Writes the new certificate to the directory returned by:
puppet config print --section master cacert

The new file will be named using the format: ca_crt-expires-<NEW_END_DATE>.pem. This allows you to distinguish it from the currently active certificate without overwriting anything by default.

Steps after running the script

  1. Examine the end date of the new certificate by executing:

    openssl x509 -in <PATH_TO_NEW_KEY> -noout -subject -issuer -enddate

    Confirm the issuer matches your existing CA and that the expiration date is 15 years in the future.

  2. Back up the current certificate and install the new one:

    # Assuming the directory where the CA is stored is /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/ca
mv /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/ca/ca_crt.pem /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/ca/ca_crt.pem.bak.$(date +%F)
mv <PATH_TO_NEW_KEY> /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/ca/ca_crt.pem

  3. Restart the OpenVox server.

    systemctl restart puppetserver

OpenVox agents

The following assumes the CA certificate is stored in the default location: /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/certs/ca.pem.

If the CA cert has expired

The new certificate can be downloaded via the HTTP API using the following command:

curl https://<PUPPET-CA-HOST>:8140/puppet-ca/v1/certificate/ca --insecure > /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/certs/ca.pem

A command similar to the above would need to be orchestrated across all of your agents.

OpenVox agents on version 8 and newer

Agents running Puppet 8+ will automatically fetch the updated CA certificate according to the ca_refresh_interval setting.

Older agents

For older agents:

  • Distribute the new CA certificate using your configuration management/orchestration tool (e.g., SaltStack, Ansible).
  • Alternatively, use an OpenVox file resource to deploy the new certificate — this only works if the current CA certificate has not yet expired and agents can still check in.