Create a new key pair and certificate request

You find key pairs and certificate requests stored in a key database. This section provides information on how to create a key pair and certificate request.


Before you begin

There are GSKit certificate support limitations that you should remember as you create a new key pair and certificate request:

  • We cannot use IKEYMAN to create certificates with key sizes that are larger than 4096 bits.

  • We can import certificates with key sizes up to 4096 bits into the key database.


About this task

To create a public and private key pair and certificate request, complete the following steps:


Procedure

  1. If you have not created the key database, see Create a new key database for instructions.

  2. Start the IKEYMAN user interface.

  3. Click Key Database File from the main user interface, then click Open.

  4. Enter your key database name in the Open dialog box, or click the key.kdb file, if you use the default. Click OK.

  5. In the Password Prompt dialog box, enter your correct password and click OK.

  6. Click Create from the main user interface, then click New Certificate Request.

  7. In the New Key and Certificate Request dialog box, complete the following information:

    • Key label: Enter a descriptive comment to identify the key and certificate in the database.

    • Key size: Choose your level of encryptions from the drop-down menu.

    • Organization Name: Enter your organization name.

    • Organization Unit

    • Locality

    • State/Province

    • Zip code

    • Country: Enter a country code. Specify at least two characters. Example: US Certificate request file name, or use the default name.

    A checksum of the certificate request is cryptographically signed with the new private key, and contains a copy of the new public key. The public key can then be used by a certificate authority to validate that the certificate signing request (CSR) has not been tampered with. Some certificate authorities might require that the checksum that is signed by the public key be calculated with a stronger algorithm such as SHA-1 or SHA-2 (SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-256).

    This checksum is a the "Signature Algorithm" of the CSR

    Subject Alternate Name (SAN) extensions are fields in a certificate request that inform SSL Clients of alternate hostnames that correspond to the signed certificate. Normal certificates (issued without a wildcard string in their Distinguished Name) are only valid for a single hostname. For example, a certificate created for example.com is not valid on www.example.com unless a Subject Alternate Name of "www.example.com" is added to the certificate. A certificate authority may charge an additional fee if your certificate contains 1 or more SAN extensions.

  8. Click OK.

  9. Click OK in the Information dialog box. A reminder to send the file to a certificate authority displays.

  10. Optional: On UNIX-based platforms, remove the end of line characters (^M) from the certificate request. To remove the end of line characters, type the following command:
    cat certreq.arm |tr -d "\r" > new_certreq.arm

  11. Send the file to the certificate authority (CA) following the instructions from the CA Web site for requesting a new certificate.


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