# FreeBSD PKS (Public Key Server, security/pks)



## TomKi (Nov 21, 2018)

Hi

At my work we have x number of Linux Mint workstations. We are using
Thunderbird with Enigmail installed so we can send encrypted emails
using OpenPGP.
So I have installed a FreeBSD PKS server (security/pks) and I have
followed the guide from
(https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/setting-up-your-own-openpgp-keyserver-why-how.59920/).

I have configured my server as instructed, but I'm little confused about
the file and directory permissions with the pksuser I have created.

The created user is owner of /var/run/pks, /var/db/pks/db and
/var/run/pks with rwx permissions.

In Thunderbird on the Linux Mint client I have added the pks server
(hkp://192.168.0.227) under Thunderbird -> Enigmail -> Preferences -
Keyserver.

And now I want to upload some of my public keys there are imported to
Enigmail to my pks server.
In Thunderbird under "Enigmail Key Management" I right click on one of
the imported keys and choose "Upload Public Keys to Keyserver". And a
new window show me the message "Enigmail Alert", "Sending of keys
failed", "gpg: sending key 79F21FCF to hkp://192.168.0.227".

I have search on the internet to get an answer, but there isn't so much
documentation for pks on FreeBSD.

The "pksuser" I have created on the server, I have also created it on
the client with the same username, password and UID. But the problem is
still there.

There are some commands with PKS, but I can't figure out how to test the
server to know if it working.

When I boot the server I can see the line "Starting pksd" and no errors
are shown after that.

I can PING to 192.168.0.227 from the client.

Can someone guide me to a solution, please? Or have someone found some
more documentation for PKS?

Or can someone tell me which log file on the client or on the server I
can look at to see some errors regarding to the failed key upload, please?

Thanks in advance.


----------

