---
description: How PKI works in swarm mode
keywords: swarm, security, tls, pki,
title: Manage swarm security with public key infrastructure (PKI)
---

The swarm mode public key infrastructure (PKI) system built into Docker
makes it simple to securely deploy a container orchestration system. The nodes
in a swarm use mutual Transport Layer Security (TLS) to authenticate, authorize,
and encrypt the communications with other nodes in the swarm.

When you create a swarm by running `docker swarm init`, Docker designates itself
as a manager node. By default, the manager node generates a new root Certificate
Authority (CA) along with a key pair, which are used to secure communications
with other nodes that join the swarm. If you prefer, you can specify your own
externally-generated root CA, using the `--external-ca` flag of the
[docker swarm init](../../reference/commandline/swarm_init.md) command.

The manager node also generates two tokens to use when you join additional nodes
to the swarm: one **worker token** and one **manager token**. Each token
includes the digest of the root CA's certificate and a randomly generated
secret. When a node joins the swarm, the joining node uses the digest to
validate the root CA certificate from the remote manager. The remote manager
uses the secret to ensure the joining node is an approved node.

Each time a new node joins the swarm, the manager issues a certificate to the
node. The certificate contains a randomly generated node ID to identify the node
under the certificate common name (CN) and the role under the organizational
unit (OU). The node ID serves as the cryptographically secure node identity for
the lifetime of the node in the current swarm.

The diagram below illustrates how manager nodes and worker nodes encrypt
communications using a minimum of TLS 1.2.

![tls diagram](/engine/swarm/images/tls.png)

The example below shows the information from a certificate from a worker node:

```none
Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: 3 (0x2)
        Serial Number:
            3b:1c:06:91:73:fb:16:ff:69:c3:f7:a2:fe:96:c1:73:e2:80:97:3b
        Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256
        Issuer: CN=swarm-ca
        Validity
            Not Before: Aug 30 02:39:00 2016 GMT
            Not After : Nov 28 03:39:00 2016 GMT
        Subject: O=ec2adilxf4ngv7ev8fwsi61i7, OU=swarm-worker, CN=dw02poa4vqvzxi5c10gm4pq2g
...snip...
```

By default, each node in the swarm renews its certificate every three months.
You can configure this interval by running the `docker swarm update
--cert-expiry <TIME PERIOD>` command. The minimum rotation value is 1 hour.
Refer to the
[docker swarm update](../../reference/commandline/swarm_update.md) CLI
reference for details.

## Rotating the CA certificate

In the event that a cluster CA key or a manager node is compromised, you can
rotate the swarm root CA so that none of the nodes trust certificates
signed by the old root CA anymore.

Run `docker swarm ca --rotate` to generate a new CA certificate and key. If you
prefer, you can pass the `--ca-cert` and `--external-ca` flags to specify the
root certificate and to use a root CA external to the swarm. Alternately,
you can pass the `--ca-cert` and `--ca-key` flags to specify the exact
certificate and key you would like the swarm to use.

When you issue the `docker swarm ca --rotate` command, the following things
happen in sequence:

1.  Docker generates a cross-signed certificate. This means that a version of
    the new root CA certificate is signed with the old root CA certificate.
    This cross-signed certificate is used as an intermediate certificate for all
    new node certificates. This ensures that nodes that still trust the old root
    CA can still validate a certificate signed by the new CA.

2.  Docker also tells all nodes to immediately renew their TLS certificates.
    This process may take several minutes, depending on the number of nodes in
    the swarm.

3.  After every node in the swarm has a new TLS certificate signed by the new CA,
    Docker forgets about the old CA certificate and key material, and tells
    all the nodes to trust the new CA certificate only.

    This also causes a change in the swarm's join tokens. The previous
    join tokens are no longer valid.

From this point on, all new node certificates issued are signed with the new
root CA, and do not contain any intermediates.

## Learn More

* Read about how [nodes](nodes.md) work.
* Learn how swarm mode [services](services.md) work.
