--- description: Configuring the notary client, server and signer. keywords: docker, notary, notary-client, notary-server, notary server, notary-signer, notary signer title: Notary signer configuration file --- This document is for those who are [running their own Notary service](../running_a_service.md) who want to specify custom options. ## Overview Notary signer [requires environment variables](signer-config.md#environment-variables-required-if-using-mysql) to encrypt private keys at rest. It also requires a configuration file, the path to which is specified on the command line using the `-config` flag. Here is a full signer configuration file example; please click on the top level JSON keys to learn more about the configuration section corresponding to that key:

{
  "server": {
    "http_addr": ":4444",
    "grpc_addr": ":7899",
    "tls_cert_file": "./fixtures/notary-signer.crt",
    "tls_key_file": "./fixtures/notary-signer.key",
    "client_ca_file": "./fixtures/notary-server.crt"
  },
  "logging": {
    "level": 2
  },
  "storage": {
    "backend": "mysql",
    "db_url": "user:pass@tcp(notarymysql:3306)/databasename?parseTime=true",
    "default_alias": "passwordalias1"
  },
  "reporting": {
    "bugsnag": {
      "api_key": "c9d60ae4c7e70c4b6c4ebd3e8056d2b8",
      "release_stage": "production"
    }
  }
}

## server section (required) "server" in this case refers to Notary signer's HTTP/GRPC server, not "Notary server". Example: ```json "server": { "http_addr": ":4444", "grpc_addr": ":7899", "tls_cert_file": "./fixtures/notary-signer.crt", "tls_key_file": "./fixtures/notary-signer.key", "client_ca_file": "./fixtures/notary-server.crt" } ```

Parameter	Required	Description
`http_addr`	yes	The TCP address (IP and port) to listen for HTTP traffic on. Examples: `":4444"` means listen on port 4444 on all IPs (and hence all interfaces, such as those listed when you run `ifconfig`) `"127.0.0.1:4444"` means listen on port 4444 on localhost only. That means that the server will not be accessible except locally (via SSH tunnel, or just on a local terminal)
`grpc_addr`	yes	The TCP address (IP and port) to listen for GRPC traffic. Examples: `":7899"` means listen on port 7899 on all IPs (and hence all interfaces, such as those listed when you run `ifconfig`) `"127.0.0.1:7899"` means listen on port 7899 on localhost only. That means that the server will not be accessible except locally (via SSH tunnel, or just on a local terminal)
`tls_key_file`	yes	The path to the private key to use for HTTPS. The path is relative to the directory of the configuration file.
`tls_cert_file`	yes	The path to the certificate to use for HTTPS. The path is relative to the directory of the configuration file.
`client_ca_file`	no	The root certificate to trust for mutual authentication. If provided, any clients connecting to Notary signer will have to have a client certificate signed by this root. If not provided, mutual authentication will not be required. The path is relative to the directory of the configuration file.

## storage section (required) This is used to store encrypted private keys. We only support MySQL or an in-memory store, currently. Example: ```json "storage": { "backend": "mysql", "db_url": "user:pass@tcp(notarymysql:3306)/databasename?parseTime=true", "default_alias": "passwordalias1" } ```

Parameter	Required	Description
`backend`	yes	Must be `"mysql"` or `"memory"`. If `"memory"` is selected, the `db_url` is ignored.
`db_url`	yes if not `memory`	The the Data Source Name used to access the DB. (note: please include `parseTime=true` as part of the the DSN)
`default_alias`	yes if not `memory`	This parameter specifies the alias of the current password used to encrypt the private keys in the DB. All new private keys will be encrypted using this password, which must also be provided as the environment variable `NOTARY_SIGNER_<DEFAULT_ALIAS_VALUE>`. Please see the environment variable section for more information.

## Environment variables (required if using MySQL) Notary signer stores the private keys in encrypted form. The alias of the passphrase used to encrypt the keys is also stored. In order to encrypt the keys for storage and decrypt the keys for signing, the passphrase must be passed in as an environment variable. For example, the configuration above specifies the default password alias to be `passwordalias1`. If this configuration is used, then you must: ``` export NOTARY_SIGNER_PASSWORDALIAS1=mypassword ``` so that that Notary signer knows to encrypt all keys with the passphrase `mypassword`, and to decrypt any private key stored with password alias `passwordalias1` with the passphrase `mypassword`. Older passwords may also be provided as environment variables. Let's say that you wanted to change the password that is used to create new keys (rotating the passphrase and re-encrypting all the private keys is not supported yet). You could change the config to look like: ```json "storage": { "backend": "mysql", "db_url": "user:pass@tcp(notarymysql:3306)/databasename?parseTime=true", "default_alias": "passwordalias2" } ``` Then you can set: ```bash export NOTARY_SIGNER_PASSWORDALIAS1=mypassword export NOTARY_SIGNER_PASSWORDALIAS2=mynewfancypassword ``` That way, all new keys will be encrypted and decrypted using the passphrase `mynewfancypassword`, but old keys that were encrypted using the passphrase `mypassword` can still be decrypted. The environment variables for the older passwords are optional, but Notary Signer will not be able to decrypt older keys if they are not provided, and attempts to sign data using those keys will fail. ## Related information * [Notary Server Configuration File](server-config.md) * [Configuration sections common to the Notary server and signer](common-configs.md)