- Ssl Certificate Key File
- Generating Private Key And Ssl Signed Certificate Online
- Ca Signed Ssl Certificate
- Generating Private Key And Ssl Signed Certificate Sample
- Generating Private Key And Ssl Signed Certificate Free
Apr 05, 2018 This self-signed certificate also needs a private key otherwise it’s pretty useless for SSL, token signing etc. Generating a 4096 bit RSA private key. The /t option saves you a step.
Overview
The following is an extremely simplified view of how SSL is implemented and what part the certificate plays in the entire process.
Normal web traffic is sent unencrypted over the Internet. That is, anyone with access to the right tools can snoop all of that traffic. Obviously, this can lead to problems, especially where security and privacy is necessary, such as in credit card data and bank transactions. The Secure Socket Layer is used to encrypt the data stream between the web server and the web client (the browser).
SSL makes use of what is known as asymmetric cryptography, commonly referred to as public key cryptography (PKI). With public key cryptography, two keys are created, one public, one private. Anything encrypted with either key can only be decrypted with its corresponding key. Thus if a message or data stream were encrypted with the server's private key, it can be decrypted only using its corresponding public key, ensuring that the data only could have come from the server.
If SSL utilizes public key cryptography to encrypt the data stream traveling over the Internet, why is a certificate necessary? The technical answer to that question is that a certificate is not really necessary - the data is secure and cannot easily be decrypted by a third party. However, certificates do serve a crucial role in the communication process. The certificate, signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA), ensures that the certificate holder is really who he claims to be. Without a trusted signed certificate, your data may be encrypted, however, the party you are communicating with may not be whom you think. Without certificates, impersonation attacks would be much more common.
Step 1: Generate a Private Key
The openssl toolkit is used to generate an RSA Private Key and CSR (Certificate Signing Request). It can also be used to generate self-signed certificates which can be used for testing purposes or internal usage.
The first step is to create your RSA Private Key. This key is a 1024 bit RSA key which is encrypted using Triple-DES and stored in a PEM format so that it is readable as ASCII text.
Ssl Certificate Key File
Step 2: Generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request)
Once the private key is generated a Certificate Signing Request can be generated. The CSR is then used in one of two ways. Ideally, the CSR will be sent to a Certificate Authority, such as Thawte or Verisign who will verify the identity of the requestor and issue a signed certificate. The second option is to self-sign the CSR, which will be demonstrated in the next section.
During the generation of the CSR, you will be prompted for several pieces of information. These are the X.509 attributes of the certificate. One of the prompts will be for 'Common Name (e.g., YOUR name)'. It is important that this field be filled in with the fully qualified domain name of the server to be protected by SSL. If the website to be protected will be https://public.example.com, then enter public.example.com at this prompt. The command to generate the CSR is as follows:
Step 3: Remove Passphrase from Key
One unfortunate side-effect of the pass-phrased private key is that Apache will ask for the pass-phrase each time the web server is started. Obviously this is not necessarily convenient as someone will not always be around to type in the pass-phrase, such as after a reboot or crash. mod_ssl includes the ability to use an external program in place of the built-in pass-phrase dialog, however, this is not necessarily the most secure option either. It is possible to remove the Triple-DES encryption from the key, thereby no longer needing to type in a pass-phrase. If the private key is no longer encrypted, it is critical that this file only be readable by the root user! If your system is ever compromised and a third party obtains your unencrypted private key, the corresponding certificate will need to be revoked. With that being said, use the following command to remove the pass-phrase from the key:
The newly created server.key file has no more passphrase in it.
Step 4: Generating a Self-Signed Certificate
At this point you will need to generate a self-signed certificate because you either don't plan on having your certificate signed by a CA, or you wish to test your new SSL implementation while the CA is signing your certificate. This temporary certificate will generate an error in the client browser to the effect that the signing certificate authority is unknown and not trusted.
To generate a temporary certificate which is good for 365 days, issue the following command:
Generating Private Key And Ssl Signed Certificate Online
Step 5: Installing the Private Key and Certificate
When Apache with mod_ssl is installed, it creates several directories in the Apache config directory. The location of this directory will differ depending on how Apache was compiled.
Step 6: Configuring SSL Enabled Virtual Hosts on Apache
Step 7: Restart Apache and Test
The following instructions will guide you through the CSR generation process on Microsoft IIS 7. To learn more about CSRs and the importance of your private key, reference our Overview of Certificate Signing Request article. If you already generated the CSR and received your trusted SSL certificate, reference our SSL Installation Instructions and disregard the steps below.
1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and then select Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Select the server where you want to generate the certificate
In the left Connections menu, select the server name (host) where you want to generate the request.
3. Navigate to Server Certificates
In the center menu, click the Server Certificates icon under the Security section near the bottom.
4. Select Create a New Certificate
In the right Actions menu, click Create Certificate Request.
5. Enter your CSR details
Ca Signed Ssl Certificate
In the Distinguished Name Properties window, enter in the required CSR details and then click Next.
Note: To avoid common mistakes when filling out your CSR details, reference our Overview of Certificate Signing Request article.
6. Select a cryptographic service provider and bit length
In the Cryptographic Service Provider Properties window, select Microsoft RSA SChannel Cryptographic Provider and Bit Length of 2048, then click Next.
Note: Bit Length: 2048 is the current industry standard. You may choose a larger key size, but only if you have a requirement to do so, as longer key lengths increase latency and may reduce compatibility.
Generating Private Key And Ssl Signed Certificate Sample
7. Save the CSR
Click Browse to specify the location where you want to save the CSR as a “.txt” file and click Finish.
8. Generate the order
Locate and open the newly created CSR from the specified location you choose in a text editor such as Notepad and copy all the text including:
Return to the Generation Form on our website and paste the entire CSR into the blank text box and continue with completing the generation process.
Upon generating your CSR, your order will enter the validation process with the issuing Certificate Authority (CA) and require the certificate requester to complete some form of validation depending on the certificate purchased. For information regarding the different levels of the validation process and how to satisfy the industry requirements, reference our validation articles.
After you complete the validation process and receive the trusted SSL Certificate from the issuing Certificate Authority (CA), proceed with the next step using our SSL Installation Instructions for Microsoft IIS 7.