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Running your own PGP keyserver with SKS on Debian 6/Ubuntu 10.04

Commands prefixed with # need to be run as a sudo or root.

Installation

To install we need to run the following command:

# apt-get install -y sks

Now we build the key database:

# sks build

And change the permissions for the sks user:

# chown -R debian-sks:debian-sks /var/lib/sks/DB

Next we need to make sks start from init, open up /etc/default/sks in your favourite editor and initstart to look like below:

initstart=yes

Now we can start the service with:

# /etc/init.d/sks start

Your keyserver will now be up and running on port 11371.

Web interface

We'll need to create a web folder within sks with the following command:

# mkdir -p /var/lib/sks/www/

Change it's permissions so the sks user can access it.

# chown -R debian-sks:debian-sks /var/lib/sks/www

And finally we need create a single HTML file for the interface, I have provided that too.

# wget https://syslog.tv/downloads/sks-index.html -O /var/lib/sks/www/index.html

Now your PGP server should be accessible from a web browser at http://YOUR_SERVER:11371/ and it should look like mine https://syslog.tv:11371/

 
  • Imre Bertalan

    Hy! I know the article is quite old, but still usefull. Thank you in advance for the step-by-step guide. It works flawlessly :)

    However, I have a question. When I upload the public key to the server it is not veryfied. I can verify it with my own secret key, then upload it to the server, but then only I see them verifyed, nobody else. Is there a way to make all the keys on the server verifyed by default by everyone? I was thinking of making a PGP key for the server itself, then verify all the key, so the reciever will not see this in the mail:
    http://kepfeltoltes.hu/121010/K_pkiv_g_s_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg

    I want to see that the PGP key is verifyed ( by anyone ).

    One more thing. There is so much computers and clients that I cannot go to them one by one and set things up, so I need something, that is good via remote desktop. Thank you in advance:

    Best Regards

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