System and Service Credentials[1] are data objects that may be passed into booted systems or system services as they are invoked. They can be acquired from various external sources, and propagated into the system and from there into system services. Credentials may optionally be encrypted with a machine-specific key and/or locked to the local TPM2 device, and are only decrypted when the consuming service is invoked.
System credentials may be used to provision and configure various aspects of the system. Depending on the consuming component credentials are only used on initial invocations or are needed for all invocations.
Credentials may be used for any kind of data, binary or text, and may carry passwords, secrets, certificates, cryptographic key material, identity information, configuration, and more.
firstboot.keymap
The console key mapping to set (e.g. "de"). Read by
systemd-firstboot(1), and only honoured if no console keymap has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
firstboot.locale, firstboot.locale-messages
The system locale to set (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8"). Read by
systemd-firstboot(1), and only honoured if no locale has been configured before.
firstboot.locale sets "LANG", while
firstboot.locale-message sets "LC_MESSAGES".
Added in version 252.
firstboot.timezone
The system timezone to set (e.g. "Europe/Berlin"). Read by
systemd-firstboot(1), and only honoured if no system timezone has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
login.issue
The data of this credential is written to /etc/issue.d/50-provision.conf, if the file doesn't exist yet.
agetty(8) reads this file and shows its contents at the login prompt of terminal logins. See
issue(5) for details.
Consumed by /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
login.motd
The data of this credential is written to /etc/motd.d/50-provision.conf, if the file doesn't exist yet.
pam_motd(8) reads this file and shows its contents as "message of the day" during terminal logins. See
motd(5) for details.
Consumed by /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
network.hosts
The data of this credential is written to /etc/hosts, if the file doesn't exist yet. See
hosts(5) for details.
Consumed by /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
network.dns, network.search_domains
DNS server information and search domains. Read by
systemd-resolved.service(8).
Added in version 253.
passwd.hashed-password.root, passwd.plaintext-password.root
May contain the password (either in UNIX hashed format, or in plaintext) for the root users. Read by both
systemd-firstboot(1) and
systemd-sysusers(1), and only honoured if no root password has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
passwd.shell.root
The path to the shell program (e.g. "/bin/bash") for the root user. Read by both
systemd-firstboot(1) and
systemd-sysusers(1), and only honoured if no root shell has been configured before.
Added in version 252.
ssh.authorized_keys.root
The data of this credential is written to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys, if the file doesn't exist yet. This allows provisioning SSH access for the system's root user.
Consumed by /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/provision.conf, see tmpfiles.d(5).
Added in version 252.
sysusers.extra
Additional
sysusers.d(5) lines to process during boot.
Added in version 252.
sysctl.extra
Additional
sysctl.d(5) lines to process during boot.
Added in version 252.
tmpfiles.extra
Additional
tmpfiles.d(5) lines to process during boot.
Added in version 252.
fstab.extra
vconsole.keymap, vconsole.keymap_toggle, vconsole.font, vconsole.font_map, vconsole.font_unimap
Console settings to apply, see
systemd-vconsole-setup.service(8) for details.
Added in version 253.
getty.ttys.serial, getty.ttys.container
vmm.notify_socket
Configures an
sd_notify(3) compatible
AF_VSOCK socket the service manager will report status information, ready notification and exit status on. For details see
systemd(1).
Added in version 253.
system.machine_id
Takes a 128bit ID to initialize the machine ID from (if it is not set yet). Interpreted by the service manager (PID 1). For details see
systemd(1).
Added in version 254.