Validation and uninstall

Routine validation

Run after installation, initialization, restoration, intermediate replacement, or service/configuration changes:

sudo /opt/bmca/scripts/validate-ca.sh --environment dev

The validator checks the host/environment match, installed binaries, absence of the X.509 root private key, required X.509 and SSH key material, intermediate chain, systemd service, and HTTPS health endpoint. Use prod only on Paris. The HTTPS check retries connection refusal for the bounded interval configured in settings.cfg, allowing step-ca to finish startup after restoration.

Useful supporting checks:

systemctl status step-ca.service
journalctl -u step-ca.service --since today
openssl x509 -in /var/lib/step-ca/certs/intermediate_ca.crt \
  -noout -subject -issuer -serial -dates -fingerprint -sha256

Uninstall

Create and verify an encrypted backup first. Then run:

sudo /opt/bmca/scripts/uninstall.sh

The command requires interactive confirmation. It stops/disables the service, removes /opt/bmca, its backup symlink, and the systemd unit. It deliberately preserves /etc/step-ca and /var/lib/step-ca, including online private keys. Erasing preserved CA state is a separate, manual decommissioning ceremony and is not implemented by this project.