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Getting Started

If you've made it here, you should already have a general understanding about Issuers and machine identities. Now you're ready to get started developing your Issuer solution.

Steps

  1. Head over to TLS Protect For Kubernetes and select ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT.
  2. Log In to your account or, if you don't already have one, select Sign Up, complete the Terms of Service and follow the on screen prompts. Note: new users will be allocated a organization name made of two randomly selected words (e.g. foxtrot-charlie) which is your private workspace within the SaaS platform.
  3. From the TLS Protect For Kubernetes console, select Clusters and CONNECT NEW CLUSTER to familiarize yourself with the steps required to introduce a Kubernetes cluster to your organization. Your choice of Kubernetes distribution is somewhat arbitrary, however you should consider the need to create them repeatedly to enable thorough testing.
  4. Head over to https://platform.jetstack.io/org/[ORG]/certinventory/cluster/[CLUSTER]/issuers. This is where you will locate any active Issuer objects in your registered cluster(s).
  5. From the TLS Protect For Kubernetes console, select ADD AN ISSUER to familiarize yourself with the steps required to introduce new Issuer objects (both native and external) to your cluster.
  6. Start building! Use a public GitHub repository with Commit Signature Veficiation enabled. Use a CI/CD platform, such as Github Actions. Use Kubebuilder framework to increase your velocity and reduce the complexity inherent in developing any Kubernetes controller.
  7. Perform functional testing.
  8. Get certified!

Getting Help

The cert-manager team have produced an article named Implementing External Issuers which is geared directly towards assisting developers like yourself. Pay special attention to the sections named Approval and Conditions.

If you aren't able to find what you're looking for, or have a specific question related to your use case, please post a question to the Developer Forum section of Venafi's Warrior Community or email Venafi Customer Support.