scheme for selecting passphrases for Private Keys

From: Saqib Ali (saqib_at_stonebeat.org)
Date: 08/25/03 

Date: 24 Aug 2003 20:27:32 -0700

Warning: This may be offtopic. I just want to know what other
WebServer Admins do in similar situations. Thanks.

Hello All,

I am the process of setting up a few a SSL enabled Web Servers, that
will
be administered by various admins. I m planning to encrypt all the
Private Keys.

I do not want to use the same pass phrase for all the keys, since I do
not want any one admin to know the passphrase for all the servers.

But at the same time I need to come with a easy scheme to generate
passwords, so that I don't have write them down, or remember
them all.

So here is what I am thinking of doing:

The Scheme to create password would to be concat the:
servername+installation_date+serveradmin+other_fields.....

and then generate a one-way hash of this phrase using MD5, and then
use
the one-way hash as the passphrase.

one-way MD5 hash will prevent any of the admin to figure out the
password generation scheme. But I on the other hand, will be to figure
out
a password for any particular private key whenever I need. Offcourse I
will not share the scheme with anyone.

What are the pros and cons of doing something like this.

Thanks

Saqib Ali
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