Cheatsheet for using my smallstep CA

This is a quick cheatsheet for using Smallstep CA. It is not meant to be a comprehensive guide, but rather a quick reference for myself. It starts with the common tasks, but contains install and setup information as the end of the document. Overview This setup creates a Certificate Authority using the Smallstep CA, and a Nitrokey HSM 2 to protect the keying material. I do this so that I can login to things like Opengear terminal servers, Dell iDRAC interfaces, Proxmox machines and similar without getting the annoying NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID error message from Chrome. ...

March 8, 2026 · 4 min · Warren Kumari