This command is used to manipulate DH parameter files.
OPTIONS
-help
Print out a usage message.
-inform DER|PEM
This specifies the input format. The DER option uses an ASN1 DER encoded form compatible with the PKCS#3 DHparameter structure. The PEM form is the default format: it consists of the DER format base64 encoded with additional header and footer lines.
-outform DER|PEM
This specifies the output format, the options have the same meaning as the -inform option.
-infilename
This specifies the input filename to read parameters from or standard input if this option is not specified.
-outfilename
This specifies the output filename parameters to. Standard output is used if this option is not present. The output filename should not be the same as the input filename.
-dsaparam
If this option is used, DSA rather than DH parameters are read or created; they are converted to DH format. Otherwise, "strong" primes (such that (p-1)/2 is also prime) will be used for DH parameter generation.
DH parameter generation with the -dsaparam option is much faster, and the recommended exponent length is shorter, which makes DH key exchange more efficient. Beware that with such DSA-style DH parameters, a fresh DH key should be created for each use to avoid small-subgroup attacks that may be possible otherwise.
-check
Performs numerous checks to see if the supplied parameters are valid and displays a warning if not.
-2, -5
The generator to use, either 2 or 5. If present then the input file is ignored and parameters are generated instead. If not present but numbits is present, parameters are generated with the default generator 2.
-randfile(s)
a file or files containing random data used to seed the random number generator, or an EGD socket (see numbits
The program dhparam combines the functionality of the programs dh and gendh in previous versions of OpenSSL. The dh and gendh programs are retained for now but may have different purposes in future versions of OpenSSL.
NOTES
PEM format DH parameters use the header and footer lines: