GET Workflow Definitions Steps

The GET /WorkflowClosed A workflow is a series of steps necessary to complete a process. In the context of Keyfactor Command, it refers to the workflow builder, which allows you automate event-driven tasks when a certificate is requested or revoked./Definitions/Steps method is used to retrieve the workflow definition step structure for the workflow definition steps. This method returns HTTP 200 OK on a success with information about the structure of the workflow definition steps.

Tip:  The following permissions (see Security Roles and Claims) are required to use this feature:

/workflows/definitions/read/

Table 847: GET Workflow Definitions Steps Input Parameters

Name In Description
QueryString Query

A string containing a query to limit the results (e.g. field1 -eq value1 AND field2 -gt value2). The default is to return all records. Fields available for querying through the API for the most part match those that appear in the Keyfactor Command Management Portal search dropdowns for the same feature. For querying guidelines, refer to: Using the Workflow Definitions Search Feature. The query fields supported for this endpoint are:

  • DisplayName
  • ExtensionName
  • SupportedWorkflowTypes
PageReturned Query An integer that specifies how many multiples of the returnLimit to skip and offset by before returning results, to enable paging. The default is 1.
ReturnLimit Query An integer that specifies how many results to return per page. The default is 50.
SortField Query A string containing the property by which the results should be sorted. Fields available for sorting through the API for the most part match those that appear as sortable columns in the Keyfactor Command Management Portal. The default sort field is DisplayName.
SortAscending Query An integer that sets the sort order on the returned results. A value of 0 sorts results in ascending order while a value of 1 sorts results in descending order. The default is ascending.

Table 848: GET Workflow Definitions Steps Response Data

Name Description
DisplayName A string indicating the display name of the workflow definition step.
ExtensionName A string indicating the extension name of the workflow definition step. The built-in extension names are:

  • RESTRequest

    Run a REST (API) request using Active Directory as an identity provider and Basic or Windows authentication. The REST request contents are embedded within the step. It does not call out to an external file.

  • OAuthRESTRequest

    Run a REST (API) request using an OAuth identity provider and Token authentication. The REST request contents are embedded within the step. It does not call out to an external file.

  • EnrollStep  (Enrollment Only)

    Enroll for a certificate through Keyfactor Command. The enroll step may occur at any point during the workflow, but only one enroll step may be included in a given workflow. Conditions are not supported on an enroll step. If an enroll step is not added to an Enrollment workflow, one will be included automatically at the end of the workflow. No configuration parameters are required for this step type.

  • ExpirationRenewal  (Expiration Only)

    Renew an expired certificate through Keyfactor Command as part of an expiration alert workflow. A separate enrollment workflow is automatically initiated to enroll for the renewed certificate, and the renewal workflow will only be considered complete and successful if that enrollment step completes successfully.

    Tip:  The Keyfactor Command Service (timer service) needs permissions to enroll on the CA and template used for renewal when this step is used.

  • RevokeStep (Revocation Only)

    Revoke a certificate through Keyfactor Command. The revoke step may occur at any point during the workflow, but only one revoke step may be included in a given workflow. Conditions are not supported on a revoke step. If a revoke step is not added to a Revocation workflow, one will be included automatically at the end of the workflow. No configuration parameters are required for this step type.

  • RequireApproval

    Require approval for a workflow step before the step can be completed. The require approval step can require approval from just one approver or multiple approvers. The workflow will be suspended at this point until the correct number of approvals from users with the correct security roles is received or until one deny is received before continuing to the next step. As part of this step, an email message is sent indicating whether the step was approved or denied—typically to the requester. This step does not include logic to send an email initiating the approval process (letting users know something needs approval). Use an Email type step for this.

    Important:  Workflows are not supported with CA delegation when they contain steps that require approval. For more information, see the CA configuration Authentication Method Tab.
    Note:  The users that you send email to initiating the approval process must be members of a security role that is allowed to submit signals (approve/deny) for the workflow in order to approve or deny the request.

  • Email

    Send an email message. This is a separate email message from those typically sent as part of a Require Approval step. You might send an email message as part of an enrollment request to notify approvers that a new request needs approval. The email messages can be customized to provide detailed information about, for example, the certificate request.

  • PowerShell

    Run PowerShell commands within the confines of the workflow to populate variables with information to pass back to the workflow. The PowerShell script contents are embedded within the step. This step does not call out to an external script stored in the database. This provides a high level of security by greatly limiting the number of standard PowerShell cmdlets that can be executed by the workflow step. A small number of PowerShell cmdlets have been white listed to allow them to be included in workflow steps of this type, including:

    • ConvertFrom-Csv

    • ConvertFrom-Json

    • ConvertFrom-Markdown

    • ConvertFrom-SddlString

    • ConvertFrom-StringData

    • ConvertTo-Csv

    • ConvertTo-Html

    • ConvertTo-Json

    • ConvertTo-Xml

    • ForEach-Object

    • Get-Command

    • Where-Object
    Important:  This step uses PowerShell 7 to run.

  • EnrollmentAgent (Enrollment Only)

    On an enrollment (either CSR or PFX), create a resigned CSR to prepare an updated enrollment request for delivery to a Microsoft CA after a previous step in the workflow has been used to update either the SANs in the initial request, subject (DN) in the initial request or both. This step must be placed later in the workflow than the step(s) to modify the SANs and/or subject. The SANs and subject may be modified with either of the PowerShell step types or a custom step type. The step creates a new CSR using the same public key as the original CSR using the updated SAN and/or subject values. It signs the new CSR with the certificate provided in the step's configuration.

    For this type of step you will need an enrollment agent certificate available as a PKCS#12 (.PFX) file with included private key to import into Keyfactor Command. This can be a user certificate or a computer certificate (e.g. generated from a copy of the Enrollment Agent template or the Enrollment Agent (Computer) template) and must have a Certificate Request Agent EKU. Note that the built-in Enrollment Agent and Enrollment Agent (Computer) templates do not allow private keys to be exported by default. You will need a template that allows private key export or will need to manually override private key export to create a certificate with an exportable private key in order to create a PKCS#12 (.PFX) file.

    Important:  This step applies to Microsoft CAs only. If this step is added to workflow for requests directed to an EJBCA CA, it will fail on enrollment. Note that EJBCA supports submission of updated SAN or subject details as part of standard functionality.

  • UpdateMetadata

    Update a metadata field in Keyfactor Command with either a static value or a value from a token from the worklow (see Substitutable Text Tokens for Workflow). If you use a token, it needs to be populated before the Update Metadata step runs.

  • CustomPowerShell

    Run a PowerShell script that has been imported into the Keyfactor Command database. All scripts in the database that have been configured with the workflow category will be available for use. See Extensions Scripts for adding scripts to the database.

    Important:  This step uses PowerShell 7 to run by default. Some cmdlets that run in earlier versions of PowerShell are not compatible with PowerShell 7. If you need to use a PowerShell cmdlet that is not compatible with PowerShell 7, you may need to enable the PowerShell 5.1 option.

  • SubjectFormatter (Enrollment Only)

    On an enrollment done through the Keyfactor Windows Enrollment Gateway using a client-side template configured with the Build from this Active Directory information option on the template, this workflow step handles formatting the incoming subject, SANs, and/or SID in the certificate request appropriately such that the enrollment will complete successfully with the target CA and Keyfactor Command template, which is not configured to build from AD. Any Keyfactor Windows Enrollment Gateway using a client-side template configured with the subject as Build from this Active Directory information must be configured with a workflow step of this type on the Keyfactor Command template that has been mapped in the gateway to that template in order to complete an enrollment through the gateway. There are no configuration parameters for the step.

    Important:  The template in Keyfactor Command that is mapped to the client-side template configured to build the subject from Active Directory also needs to be configured with three enrollment fields to support handling the incoming subject, SANs, and/or SID. For more information about configuring this, see the Keyfactor Windows Enrollment Gateway Installation and Configuration Guide.

  • NOOPStep

    An entry or exit step in which no operation occurs. Steps of this type indicate the start and end of the workflow.
SupportedWorkflowTypes

An array of strings containing a list of the workflow types supported by the workflow definition step. Possible built-in values are:

  • CertificateEnteredCollection

    Initiates a workflow instance when a certificate is identified that newly meets the query criteria of a certificate collection. For example, when a certificate discovered on an SSL scan becomes part of the Weak Keys collection, an email message can be generated notifying the PKI administrators that a new certificate with a weak key has been discovered.

    The workflow is initiated by two automated tasks that Keyfactor Command runs periodically. The first runs against your collections to identify certificates that newly meet the query criteria of each certificate collection. Certificates are added to a temporary table from which workflows of this type draw. Certificates are added for all collections regardless of whether they have active workflows. The second reads the temporary table and generates workflow instances for any active workflows of this type. The temporary table is cleared each time the first task runs.

    Each of these tasks runs every 10 minutes by default and the schedules for them are not end-user configurable.

    If the task has run to create the temporary table of certificates that newly meet the query criteria of the specified certificate collection but a workflow has not yet run for the given collection—perhaps it is disabled or has not yet been created—there is a window of time (until the temporary table is cleared) during which if a workflow is created or enabled for the certificate collection, the user creating or enabling the workflow will receive a warning message indicating that the workflow will run multiple times and asking the user for confirmation to continue. The user must enter RUN followed by the number of workflow instances that will be initiated to continue.

    Figure 482: Warning on Save for Certificate Entered or Left Collection Workflow

  • CertificateLeftCollection

    Initiates a workflow instance when a certificate is identified that no longer meet the query criteria of the specified certificate collection. For example, when a certificate in the Web Server Certificates collection disappears, a REST request can be made to open a support ticket request to investigate the removal of a web server certificate.

    The workflow is initiated by two automated tasks that Keyfactor Command runs periodically. The first runs against your collections to identify certificates that no longer meet the query criteria of each certificate collection. Certificates are added to a temporary table from which workflows of this type draw. Certificates are added for all collections regardless of whether they have active workflows. The second reads the temporary table and generates workflow instances for any active workflows of this type. The temporary table is cleared each time the first task runs.

    Each of these tasks runs every 10 minutes by default and the schedules for them are not end-user configurable.

    If the task has run to create the temporary table of certificates that no longer meet the query criteria of the specified certificate collection but a workflow has not yet run for the given collection—perhaps it is disabled or has not yet been created—there is a window of time (until the temporary table is cleared) during which if a workflow is created or enabled for the certificate collection, the user creating or enabling the workflow will receive a warning message indicating that the workflow will run multiple times and asking the user for confirmation to continue. The user must enter RUN followed by the number of workflow instances that will be initiated to continue.

  • CertificateEnteredStore

    Initiates a workflow instance when a certificate has been added to or has entered a certificate store for the specified certificate store type and optional certificate store container. For example, when a certificate appears in a trusted certificate store, a REST request can be made to check the support ticketing system for a change request, and the workflow can then generate an email message notifying the PKI administrators that a new certificate has appeared in a trusted store if a change request is not found.

    The workflow is initiated by two automated tasks that Keyfactor Command runs periodically. The first runs against your certificate store types to identify certificates that have been added to or have entered a certificate store for the specified certificate store type and optional certificate store container. Certificates are added to a temporary table from which workflows of this type draw. The second reads the temporary table and generates workflow instances for any active workflows of this type. The temporary table is cleared each time the first task runs. Included in the workflow information are the certificate ID, certificate store ID, and certificate store container ID. If the certificate store is not in a container, the container ID will be -1.

    Each of these tasks runs every 10 minutes by default and the schedules for them are not end-user configurable.

  • CertificateLeftStore

    Initiates a workflow instance when a certificate has been removed from or has left a certificate store for the specified certificate store type and optional certificate store container. For example, when a certificate on your F5 device disappears, a REST request can be made to open a support ticket request to investigate the removal of a certificate from the device.

    The workflow is initiated by two automated tasks that Keyfactor Command runs periodically. The first runs against your certificate store types to identify certificates that have been removed from or have left a certificate store for the specified certificate store type and optional certificate store container. Certificates are added to a temporary table from which workflows of this type draw. The second reads the temporary table and generates workflow instances for any active workflows of this type. The temporary table is cleared each time the first task runs. Included in the workflow information are the certificate ID, certificate store ID, and certificate store container ID. If the certificate store is not in a container, the container ID will be -1.

    Each of these tasks runs every 10 minutes by default and the schedules for them are not end-user configurable.

  • Enrollment (Including Renewals)

    The workflow is initiated by enrollment for a new or renewed certificate. Steps during the workflow can be used to do things such as require manager approval for the enrollment or manipulate the subject and/or SANs for the certificate request.

    Note:  An enrollment workflow is considered complete when the certificate reaches a state of Active (issued), Failed (denied approval in workflow or error at the CA level), Pending, or Waiting for External Validation. The workflow does not wait for external approvals before completing.

  • Expiration

    The workflow is initiated by an expiration alert. Steps during the workflow can be used to do things such as send an email notification regarding expiring certificates, run a PowerShell script to write notifications to the event log, or automate renewal of certificates.

  • Key Rotation

    The workflow is initiated by an SSH key rotation alert. Steps during the workflow can be used to do things such as send an email notification regarding SSH keys that are approaching their stale date or run a PowerShell script to write notifications to the event log.

  • Revocation

    The workflow is initiated by revoking a certificate. Steps during the workflow can be configured to do things such as modify the revocation comment entered when the certificate is revoked, append an additional comment, and store the resulting extended comment in a metadata field.

  • Revocation Monitoring

    The workflow is initiated by a revocation monitoring alert. Steps during the workflow can be used to do things such as send an email notification regarding CRLs that are expiring or OCSP endpoints that are unreachable or run a PowerShell script to write notifications to the event log.
ConfigurationParametersDefinition

An object containing the configuration parameters for the workflow definition step. These will vary depending on the step.
SignalsDefinition An object containing the signals defined for the workflow definition step. These will vary depending on the step.
Tip:  See the Keyfactor API Reference and Utility which provides a utility through which the Keyfactor APIClosed A set of functions to allow creation of applications. Keyfactor offers the Keyfactor API, which allows third-party software to integrate with the advanced certificate enrollment and management features of Keyfactor Command. endpoints can be called and results returned. It is intended to be used primarily for validation, testing and workflow development. It also serves secondarily as documentation for the API. The link to the Keyfactor API Reference and Utility is in the dropdown from the help icon () at the top of the Management Portal page next to the Log Out button.