tls - Node.js Manual & Documentation

## TLS (SSL)

Use `require('tls')` to access this module.

The `tls` module uses OpenSSL to provide Transport Layer Security and/or Secure Socket Layer: encrypted stream communication.

TLS/SSL is a public/private key infrastructure. Each client and each server must have a private key. A private key is created like this

    openssl genrsa -out ryans-key.pem 1024

All severs and some clients need to have a certificate. Certificates are public keys signed by a Certificate Authority or self-signed. The first step to getting a certificate is to create a "Certificate Signing Request" (CSR) file. This is done with:

    openssl req -new -key ryans-key.pem -out ryans-csr.pem

To create a self-signed certificate with the CSR, do this:

    openssl x509 -req -in ryans-csr.pem -signkey ryans-key.pem -out ryans-cert.pem

Alternatively you can send the CSR to a Certificate Authority for signing.

(TODO: docs on creating a CA, for now interested users should just look at `test/fixtures/keys/Makefile` in the Node source code)

### s = tls.connect(port, [host], [options], callback)

Creates a new client connection to the given `port` and `host`. (If `host` defaults to `localhost`.) `options` should be an object which specifies

- `key`: A string or `Buffer` containing the private key of the server in PEM format. (Required)

- `cert`: A string or `Buffer` containing the certificate key of the server in PEM format.

- `ca`: An array of strings or `Buffer`s of trusted certificates. If this is omitted several well known "root" CAs will be used, like VeriSign. These are used to authorize connections.

`tls.connect()` returns a cleartext `CryptoStream` object.

After the TLS/SSL handshake the `callback` is called. The `callback` will be called no matter if the server's certificate was authorized or not. It is up to the user to test `s.authorized` to see if the server certificate was signed by one of the specified CAs. If `s.authorized === false` then the error can be found in `s.authorizationError`.

### STARTTLS

In the v0.4 branch no function exists for starting a TLS session on an already existing TCP connection. This is possible it just requires a bit of work. The technique is to use `tls.createSecurePair()` which returns two streams: an encrypted stream and a plaintext stream. The encrypted stream is then piped to the socket, the plaintext stream is what the user interacts with thereafter.

Here is some code that does it.

### tls.Server

This class is a subclass of `net.Server` and has the same methods on it. Instead of accepting just raw TCP connections, this accepts encrypted connections using TLS or SSL.

Here is a simple example echo server:

    var tls = require('tls');
    var fs = require('fs');

    var options = {
      key: fs.readFileSync('server-key.pem'),
      cert: fs.readFileSync('server-cert.pem')
    };

    tls.createServer(options, function (s) {
      s.write("welcome!\n");
      s.pipe(s);
    }).listen(8000);

You can test this server by connecting to it with `openssl s_client`:

    openssl s_client -connect 127.0.0.1:8000

#### tls.createServer(options, secureConnectionListener)

This is a constructor for the `tls.Server` class. The options object has these possibilities:

- `key`: A string or `Buffer` containing the private key of the server in PEM format. (Required)

- `cert`: A string or `Buffer` containing the certificate key of the server in PEM format. (Required)

- `ca`: An array of strings or `Buffer`s of trusted certificates. If this is omitted several well known "root" CAs will be used, like VeriSign. These are used to authorize connections.

- `requestCert`: If `true` the server will request a certificate from clients that connect and attempt to verify that certificate. Default: `false`.

- `rejectUnauthorized`: If `true` the server will reject any connection which is not authorized with the list of supplied CAs. This option only has an effect if `requestCert` is `true`. Default: `false`.

#### Event: 'secureConnection'

`function (cleartextStream) {}`

This event is emitted after a new connection has been successfully handshaked. The argument is a duplex instance of `stream.Stream`. It has all the common stream methods and events.

`cleartextStream.authorized` is a boolean value which indicates if the client has verified by one of the supplied certificate authorities for the server. If `cleartextStream.authorized` is false, then `cleartextStream.authorizationError` is set to describe how authorization failed. Implied but worth mentioning: depending on the settings of the TLS server, you unauthorized connections may be accepted.

#### server.listen(port, [host], [callback])

Begin accepting connections on the specified `port` and `host`. If the `host` is omitted, the server will accept connections directed to any IPv4 address (`INADDR_ANY`).

This function is asynchronous. The last parameter `callback` will be called when the server has been bound.

See `net.Server` for more information.

#### server.close()

Stops the server from accepting new connections. This function is asynchronous, the server is finally closed when the server emits a `'close'` event.

#### server.maxConnections

Set this property to reject connections when the server's connection count gets high.

#### server.connections

The number of concurrent connections on the server.