[Pki-users] [Freeipa-users] Removal of obsolete certificates from o=ipaca

[Fraser Tweedale]

On Fri, Jul 28, 2017 at 04:03:44PM +0200, Adam Tkac via FreeIPA-users wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> we are currently facing issue with huge number of outdated certificate entries
> in o=ipaca LDAP subtree (many servers no longer exists, certificates already expired etc)
> and we would like to remove them to decrease number of entries in LDAP and also
> to speed-up initial replication of o=ipaca subtree (we have more than 700 000
> DNs in o=ipaca and deploy of new replica takes quite long).
> 
> Does anyone tried to do something like this? I'm quite affraid if simple
> ldapdelete of many DNs in o=ipaca subtree wouldn't break DogTag somehow.
> 
> Do you have any ideas if something can break by removal of old (expired and also
> non-expired) certificates from o=ipaca ? Thanks in advance for any advice.
> 
> Regards, Adam
>
It is not a supported operation, but I cannot think of any problems
that would arise from removing the certificate records under
o=ipaca.  But I am copying pki-users@ to get the attention of the
rest of the Dogtag team in case there is something I am not thinking
of.

Strictly speaking, you should only remove expired certificates, even
if a host has disappeared the validity period is a promise by a CA
to maintain knowledge about a certificate for that whole period.

(Note to Dogtag team: FreeIPA configures Dogtag to use sequential
serial numbers.  The usual range mechanism applies for CA clones).

HTH,
Fraser