SignServer workers are configured to perform certain activities like signing files of a certain type, often with a specific key.
Common Configuration
Workers are configured by setting properties in the worker configuration. The common configuration options handled by the framework apply to all workers. In addition, there are worker specific properties, handled by the worker implementation. For more information, see Common Configuration.
Signers
Signers are Workers that perform signing operations. A Signer specifies how to perform the signature creation, and which key and certificate to use.
There are multiple implementations of SignServer Signers available for signing different formats and additional implementations can be developed. For more information, see SignServer Signers.
Document Validators
Document Validators checks the signature and the certificate(s) in documents. For more information, see SignServer Document Validators.
Dispatchers
A SignServer Dispatcher does not perform any processing (i.e. signing) of its own but instead forwards the request to another worker.
Dispatchers forward the request to the first available worker that has a valid certificate (FirstActiveDispatcher), or forward a time-stamp request depending on the requested time-stamp policy (RequestedPolicyDispatcher). For more information, see SignServer Dispatchers.
Validation Service Framework
The Validation Service Framework validates certificates from one or more issuers. For more information, see SignServer Validation Service Framework.
Timed Service
A SignServer Timed Service does not accept any input but instead runs at a fixed time interval (like a cron job). This can be useful for setting up an hourly timed service keeping the connection to the Hardware Security Module (HSM) from timing out. For more information, see HSMKeepAliveTimedService. For more information, see SignServer Timed Services.
Other Workers
For information on other SignServer workers, see Other Workers. For example, the CryptoWorker that is a holder for configuring the Crypto Token component that is used to access key material. By configuring the Crypto Token in a Crypto Worker other workers can reference this crypto worker and use it for signing etc.