Resolve open questions: - OQ-01: Restrict cipher suites to match nginx scope (4 ECDHE-AES-GCM suites for TLS 1.2 + all TLS 1.3 suites) — ADR-012 - OQ-03: Health check on separate local port (default 9900, localhost only) — ADR-013 - OQ-04: Add Unix domain socket admin API for config reload alongside SIGHUP, with structured success/failure responses — ADR-014 - OQ-06: Per-site upstream timeouts with defaults (5s connect, 60s request), overridable in SiteConfig — ADR-015 Document previously undocumented decisions flagged by architecture review: - ADR-016: Explicit bind address requirement (reject 0.0.0.0) - ADR-017: Upstream connection defaults (HTTP/1.1, no redirects, pooling) - ADR-018: 100 MB body size limit (matches nginx, Gitea compatibility) OQ-07 (per-site TLS overrides) remains open for future consideration. Spec updates: - config.md: add health_check_port, admin_socket_path, per-site timeout fields, update TOML example and validation rules - proxy.md: reference ADR-015/017/018 for timeouts, connection defaults, and body limit decisions - tls.md: replace OQ-01 cipher suite section with ADR-012 decision - operations.md: add local health check port section, admin socket reload - overview.md: update Phase 1 scope with new features, add ADR references - open-questions.md: resolve OQ-01/03/04/06, keep OQ-07 open
236 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
236 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
---
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status: draft
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last_updated: 2026-06-11
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---
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# TLS Termination
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## What It Is
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The TLS termination component handles all aspects of encrypted connections:
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certificate provisioning (ACME and manual), TLS handshake, SNI-based certificate
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selection, and connection wrapping for the axum router.
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## Why It Exists
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TLS termination is the security boundary between the public internet and our
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upstream services. It replaces nginx's `ssl_certificate`, `ssl_protocols`, and
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`ssl_ciphers` configuration with a memory-safe Rust implementation using rustls.
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## Architecture
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```
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┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
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│ TLS Termination │
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│ │
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bind_addr:443 ──► │ TcpListener::bind(bind_addr) │
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│ │ │
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│ ▼ │
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│ tokio-rustls::TlsAcceptor │
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│ │ │
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│ ├─ ACME mode: │
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│ │ rustls-acme::ResolvesServerCertAcme │
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│ │ (auto-provisions & renews certs) │
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│ │ │
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│ └─ Manual mode: │
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│ rustls::ServerConfig │
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│ .with_single_cert(cert_chain, key) │
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│ │
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│ │ │
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│ ▼ │
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│ TlsStream<TcpStream> │
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│ │ │
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│ ▼ │
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│ hyper::service_fn → axum router │
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└──────────────────────────────────────────┘
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bind_addr:80 ──► HTTP listener (redirect to HTTPS, no TLS)
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```
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## Certificate Provisioning
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### ACME Mode (Primary)
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Uses `rustls-acme` for automatic certificate provisioning and renewal through
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Let's Encrypt. This is the primary mode — no certbot dependency, no cron jobs,
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no deploy hooks.
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**How it works:**
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1. `AcmeCertProvider` configures the ACME client with the domain list, cache
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directory, and Let's Encrypt directory (staging or production).
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2. `AcmeConfig::new(domains)` creates an ACME configuration for all listed
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domains. Let's Encrypt will issue a single SAN certificate covering all
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domains.
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3. The ACME state machine runs as a background tokio task, handling:
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- Account registration with Let's Encrypt
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- Certificate ordering
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- TLS-ALPN-01 challenge (or HTTP-01 challenge)
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- Certificate issuance
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- Certificate renewal (automatic, ~30 days before expiry)
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4. `ResolvesServerCertAcme` is a rustls `ResolvesServerCert` implementation
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that automatically serves the ACME-provisioned certificate.
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5. When a new certificate is issued, the resolver updates atomically — no
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restart or signal handling needed.
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**Configuration:**
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```toml
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[server.tls]
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mode = "acme"
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acme_domains = ["git.alk.dev", "alk.dev"]
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acme_cache_dir = "/var/lib/reverse-proxy/acme-cache"
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acme_directory = "production" # or "staging" for testing
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```
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**Cache directory:** The `DirCache` from rustls-acme persists ACME account data,
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private keys, and certificates between restarts. This avoids re-provisioning on
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every restart.
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### Manual Mode (Fallback)
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For environments where ACME is not desired (testing, self-signed certs,
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corporate CAs, or BYO certificates), the proxy loads certificates from file
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paths at startup.
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```toml
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[tls]
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mode = "manual"
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cert_path = "/etc/letsencrypt/live/git.alk.dev/fullchain.pem"
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key_path = "/etc/letsencrypt/live/git.alk.dev/privkey.pem"
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```
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Certificate files are loaded once at startup using `rustls_pemfile`. Manual
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mode requires a restart to pick up new certificates. See ADR-004 for the
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rationale behind making ACME the primary mode and manual mode restart-dependent.
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## TLS Configuration
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### Protocol Versions
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The proxy supports TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 only, matching the minimum security
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level of the current nginx configuration. The `aws_lc_rs` crypto provider
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defaults to these protocol versions; explicit configuration ensures no
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regression if defaults change in future rustls releases.
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### Cipher Suites
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Cipher suites are explicitly restricted to match the scope of our current nginx
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configuration. See ADR-012 for the full rationale.
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**TLS 1.2 (explicitly selected):**
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- `TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256`
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- `TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256`
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- `TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384`
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- `TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384`
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**TLS 1.3 (all default suites):**
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- `TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256`
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- `TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384`
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- `TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256`
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This is configured by building a `CryptoProvider` with a custom `cipher_suite`
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list and passing it to `ServerConfig::builder_with_provider()`. The cipher
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list matches our current nginx configuration's scope, providing behavioral
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parity during migration.
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### ServerConfig Construction
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For manual mode, the `ServerConfig` is built with `with_no_client_auth()` and
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a custom `ResolvesServerCert` implementation that maps SNI hostnames to
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certificate/key pairs loaded from disk.
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For ACME mode, the `ServerConfig` is built with `with_cert_resolver()`, passing
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the `ResolvesServerCertAcme` resolver. The ACME configuration includes all
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domains listed in `acme_domains`, and the resolver manages a single SAN
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certificate covering all of them. The ACME TLS-ALPN-01 protocol identifier
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(`acme-tls/1`) must be registered in the `alpn_protocols` list so the server
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can respond to TLS-ALPN-01 challenges.
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Both modes use the `aws_lc_rs` crypto provider with safe default protocol
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versions (TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3).
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## SNI-Based Certificate Selection
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### ACME Mode (Multi-Domain)
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In ACME mode, `rustls-acme` manages a single SAN certificate covering all
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configured domains. The `ResolvesServerCertAcme` resolver automatically serves
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the correct certificate during the TLS handshake.
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1. **TLS handshake**: The client sends the SNI extension indicating which
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hostname it's connecting to.
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2. **Certificate resolution**: `ResolvesServerCertAcme` matches the SNI
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hostname against the provisioned certificate's Subject Alternative Names
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and serves the certificate.
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3. **HTTP routing**: After the TLS handshake, axum's `Host` extractor routes
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the request to the correct site handler based on the `Host` header.
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This is the same pattern nginx uses — SNI selects the cert during TLS, then
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`Host` header selects the server block. ACME mode handles this automatically
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through the cert resolver.
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### Manual Mode (Multi-Domain)
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In manual mode, a custom `ResolvesServerCert` implementation is required to
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map SNI hostnames to the correct `CertifiedKey`. This implementation:
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1. Loads certificate files at startup (or on SIGHUP for reload)
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2. Maps each domain name to its certificate chain and private key
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3. During the TLS handshake, looks up the SNI hostname and returns the
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matching `CertifiedKey`
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The custom resolver must handle the case where no matching certificate exists
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for the SNI hostname — in this case, the handshake fails, which is the
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correct behavior (we don't serve a default certificate for unknown domains).
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See [open-questions.md](open-questions.md) OQ-07 for per-site TLS overrides.
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## HTTP Listener (Port 80)
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The HTTP listener on port 80 is a plain TCP listener with no TLS. It has one
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job: redirect all requests to the HTTPS equivalent.
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The listener binds to the same IP address as the TLS listener, but on port 80.
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### ACME Challenge Type
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The default ACME challenge type is **TLS-ALPN-01**, since the proxy already
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listens on port 443. This avoids requiring a separate HTTP-01 challenge server.
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HTTP-01 is available as a fallback for environments where TLS-ALPN-01 is not
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suitable (e.g., behind a CDN that terminates TLS). When using HTTP-01, the
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port 80 listener serves `/.well-known/acme-challenge/{token}` paths for
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challenge verification.
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## Key Files and Crates
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| Component | Crate | Purpose |
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|-----------|-------|---------|
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| TLS acceptor | `tokio-rustls` 0.26 | Async TLS handshake over TCP streams |
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| TLS config | `rustls` 0.23 | ServerConfig, CryptoProvider, cipher suites |
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| ACME client | `rustls-acme` 0.12 | Automatic cert provisioning and renewal |
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| PEM parsing | `rustls-pemfile` 2 | Load cert/key from PEM files (manual mode) |
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| PKI types | `rustls-pki-types` 1 | CertificateDer, PrivateKeyDer |
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## Design Decisions
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All design decisions are documented as ADRs in [decisions/](decisions/).
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| ADR | Decision | Summary |
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|-----|----------|---------|
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| [004](decisions/004-rustls-acme.md) | ACME-primary cert management | Eliminates certbot; automatic provisioning and renewal |
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| [005](decisions/005-tokio-rustls-direct.md) | tokio-rustls directly | Full control over TLS config and ACME resolver integration |
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| [010](decisions/010-multi-site-phase1.md) | Multi-site in Phase 1 | Multiple domains from initial release |
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| [011](decisions/011-multi-domain-tls.md) | Multi-domain TLS config | Single SAN certificate covering all domains via rustls-acme |
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| [012](decisions/012-cipher-suite-restriction.md) | Restrict cipher suites | Match nginx scope: four ECDHE-AES-GCM suites for TLS 1.2, all TLS 1.3 suites |
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## Open Questions
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Open questions are tracked in [open-questions.md](open-questions.md). Key
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questions affecting this document:
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- ~~**OQ-01**: Should cipher suites be restricted beyond rustls defaults?~~ (resolved — ADR-012: restrict to nginx scope)
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- **OQ-07**: Should per-site TLS overrides be supported for mixed ACME/manual
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domains? (open) |