Introduction

Welcome to the Trustpoint Documentation. This guide provides comprehensive information to help you understand, use, and contribute to the Trustpoint project.

What is Trustpoint?

Trustpoint is an open-source platform designed to simplify and enhance public key infrastructure (PKI) management. It aims to deliver secure, efficient, and scalable solutions for managing digital certificates, domains, and security protocols for industrial environments.

Key Features of Trustpoint

• Comprehensive Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM)

• Support for short-lived certificates

• Standardized interfaces (CMP | EST, REST on roadmap)

• User-friendly web-based application

• Low hardware requirements

• Availability as a Docker container

• Built on Python Django framework

How to Navigate the Documentation

The documentation is organized into the following main sections:

Getting Started:

• Quickstart Setup Guide: Step-by-step guide for setting up Trustpoint using Docker, building from source, running the container, verifying the setup, and securing the installation.

• Quickstart Operation Guide: Guide for operating Trustpoint, including setting up a PKI-hierachy, creating a domain, and onboarding devices.

• Trustpoint Usage Guide: An overview of Trustpoint’s usage, including device onboarding, certificate issuance, Issuing CA configurations, domain management, truststores, and security considerations.

• Community & Support: Provides information on Trustpoint’s open-source community, contribution opportunities, communication channels, and support options.

Devices:

• Onboarding Mechanisms: An overview of the available device onboarding mechanisms in Trustpoint.

Indices and tables:

• Glossary: An overview of the key terms related to Trustpoint.

• Issued Certificate Defaults: Details the default attributes and validity periods of issued certificates in Trustpoint.

Testing:

• Test Plan: Details the Trustpoint Test Plan, covering functionality, security, integration, and usability.

• CI/CD: Explains all pipelines used on GitHub.

• Test Report: Provides a report of all the tests executed and described inside the test plan.

Development:

• Trustpoint Development environment setup: Developers guide on setting up the Trustpoint development environment, managing dependencies, configuring the database, and running the server.

Getting Started

To begin using Trustpoint, we recommend exploring the Quickstart Setup Guide section to familiarize yourself with the core features and setup. For detailed information on PKI concepts and best practices, refer to the Quickstart Operation Guide and Trustpoint Usage Guide section.

Users and Scenarios

Trustpoint is designed to cater to a wide range of users and scenarios, making it an ideal solution for organizations and projects with varying certificate management needs. Here’s an overview of who would benefit most from using Trustpoint and the scenarios where it excels:

1. Target Users:

   • Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Organizations that need a straightforward, cost-effective way to manage digital certificates without a complex PKI infrastructure.

   • Development Teams: Teams working on software or applications in machinery that require secure communication and need a testing environment for certificates.

   • IT Administrators: Professionals responsible for managing and securing network infrastructure.

2. Ideal Scenarios for Using Trustpoint:

   • Development and Testing Environments: Trustpoint’s ability to generate self-signed Root and Issuing CAs makes it a perfect tool for testing certificate workflows in non-production environments.

   • Air-Gapped Environments: Trustpoint can operate using an imported Issuing CA, making it suitable for environments that are not connected to external networks and require tight security controls.

   • Device Onboarding for IIoT and Network Devices: Trustpoint simplifies the process of onboarding devices securely, making it well-suited for IoT deployments and network infrastructure that rely on certificate-based authentication.

   • Certificate Management for On-Prem: For organizations needing to manage certificates for internal services and applications, Trustpoint provides an efficient and user-friendly solution.

   • Organizations without a Dedicated PKI: Trustpoint is suitable for teams and companies that lack a dedicated PKI but need reliable certificate management features to secure their operations.