msencrypt(1) create an encryption key or encrypt portions of connection strings for use in mapfiles

SYNOPSIS

msencrypt [-keygen file | -key file string]

DESCRIPTION

msencrypt can create an encryption key or encrypt portions of connection strings for use in mapfiles. Typically you might want to encrypt portions of the CONNECTION parameter for a database connection. The following CONNECTIONTYPEs are supported for using this encryption method:
  • OGR
  • Oracle Spatial
  • PostGIS
  • SDE

OPTIONS

-keygen file
Creates a new encryption key in file.
-key file string
Use the key in file to encrypt string.

NOTES

Use in Mapfile.

The location of the encryption key can be specified by two mechanisms, either by setting the environment variable MS_ENCRYPTION_KEY or using a CONFIG directive in the MAP object of your mapfile. For example:

        CONFIG MS_ENCRYPTION_KEY "/path/to/mykey.txt"
      

Use the { and } characters as delimiters for encrypted strings inside database CONNECTIONs in your mapfile. For example:

        CONNECTIONTYPE ORACLESPATIAL
        CONNECTION "user/{MIIBugIBAAKBgQCP0Yj+Seh8==}@service"
      

EXAMPLE

        LAYER
          NAME "provinces"
          TYPE POLYGON
          CONNECTIONTYPE POSTGIS
          CONNECTION "host=127.0.0.1 dbname=gmap user=postgres password=iluvyou18 port=5432"
          DATA "the_geom FROM province using SRID=42304"
          STATUS DEFAULT
          CLASS
            NAME "Countries"
            COLOR 255 0 0
          END
        END
      

Here are the steps to encrypt the password in the above connection:

1.
Generate an encryption key (note that this key should not be stored anywhere within your web server's accessible directories):

        msencrypt -keygen "/home/user/mykey.txt"
        

And this generated key file might contain something like:

        2137FEFDB5611448738D9FBB1DC59055
        
2.
Encrypt the connection's password using that generated key:

 
        msencrypt -key "/home/user/mykey.txt" "iluvyou18"
        

Which returns the password encrypted, at the commandline (you'll use it in a second):

        3656026A23DBAFC04C402EDFAB7CE714
        
3.
Edit the mapfile to make sure the 'mykey.txt' can be found, using the "MS_ENCRYPTION_KEY" environment variable. The CONFIG parameter inside the MAP object can be used to set an environment variable inside a mapfile:

 
        MAP
            ...
            CONFIG "MS_ENCRYPTION_KEY" "/home/user/mykey.txt"
            ...
        END #mapfile
        
4.
Modify the layer's CONNECTION to use the generated password key, making sure to use the "{}" brackets around the key:

 
        CONNECTION "host=127.0.0.1 dbname=gmap user=postgres
                    password={3656026A23DBAFC04C402EDFAB7CE714} port=5432"
        
5.
Done! Give your new encrypted mapfile a try with the shp2img(1) utility!