Creating and Mounting an Encrypted Filesystem

Use yum to install the cryptsetup package:

sudo -i
yum -y install cryptsetup

Use fdisk to create a new default partition:

fdisk /dev/nvme1n1

Press n and use all the defaults to create a new partition:

Command (m for help): n
Partition Type: p
Partition number (1-4, default 1): Press Enter to accept the default
First sector: Press Enter to accept the default
Last sector: Press Enter to accept the default

Press w to write the changes to the partition table and exit:

Command (m for help): w

Format the /dev/nvme1n1p1 partition to be encrypted with the passphrase TALK3nkrpTED:

cryptsetup -y luksFormat /dev/nvme1n1p1

Use cryptsetup luksOpen to decrypt the device and view its symlink in the /dev/mapper directory with the ls command. Use mkfs to create an ext4 filesystem, and mkdir to create the /mnt/keys directory:

cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/nvme1n1p1 cryptvol

Use the passphrase TALK3nkrpTED:

ls -l /dev/mapper
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/mapper/cryptvol
cryptsetup luksClose cryptvol
mkdir /mnt/keys/

For daily use, run cryptsetup (using luksOpen) to decrypt the partition and luksClose to encrypt it. When the partition is decrypted, it can be mounted, and it should be unmounted before it is closed or encrypted. Use touch to create an /mnt/keys/access file, and ls to display it:

cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/nvme1n1p1 cryptvol

Use the passphrase TALK3nkrpTED, then:

mount /dev/mapper/cryptvol /mnt/keys
touch /mnt/keys/access
ls -l /mnt/keys/
umount /mnt/keys
cryptsetup luksClose cryptvol