Create certificate authority (CA) personal certificates

Use this topic to create CA certificates from a certificate authority (CA).

We must configure a CA client object in the environment. The client object contains all of the configuration information necessary to connect to the third-party CA server.

Use the following information to create a CA personal certificate using a CA client.

1. Optional: Query the configuration for keystores to determine where system stores the new CA certificate.

   Use the listKeyStores command to list all keystores for a specific management scope. Specify the -scopeName parameter to display keystores within a specific management scope, or set the -all parameter to true to display all keystores regardless of scope. The following example lists all keystores in the configuration:

   AdminTask.listKeystores('-all true')

   The command returns the following sample output:

   CellDefaultKeyStore(cells/myCell|security.xml#KeyStore_1)
   CellDefaultTrustStore(cells/myCell|security.xml#KeyStore_2)
   CellLTPAKeys(cells/myCell|security.xml#KeyStore_3)
   NodeDefaultKeyStore(cells/myCell|security.xml#KeyStore_1598745926544)
   NodeDefaultTrustStore(cells/myCell|security.xml#KeyStore_1476529854789)

   Use the getKeyStoreInfo command and specify the -keyStoreName parameter to return additional information about the keystore of interest, as the following example displays:

   AdminTask.getKeyStoreInfo('[-keyStoreName CellDefaultKeyStore]')

   The command returns the following configuration information for the keystore of interest:

   [ [location ${CONFIG_ROOT}/cells/myCell/key.p12] [password *****] [_Webspher
   e_Config_Data_Id cells/myCell|security.xml#KeyStore_1] [_Websphere_Config_Da
   ta_Version ] [useForAcceleration false] [slot 0] [type PKCS12] [additionalKeySto
   reAttrs ] [fileBased true] [_Websphere_Config_Data_Type KeyStore] [customProvide
   rClass ] [hostList ] [createStashFileForCMS false] [description [Default key sto
   re for JenbCell01]] [readOnly false] [initializeAtStartup false] [managementScop
   e (cells/JenbCell01|security.xml#ManagementScope_1)] [usage SSLKeys] [provider I
   BMJCE] [name CellDefaultKeyStore] ]

2. Optional: Determine which CA client to use.

   Use the listCAClients command to list the CA clients that exist in the configuration. Specify the -scopeName parameter to display CA clients within a specific management scope, or set the -all parameter to true to display all CA clients regardless of scope. The following example lists all CA clients in the configuration:

   AdminTask.listCAClients('-all true')

3. Create a CA personal certificate.

   Use the requestCACertificate command to create a new CA personal certificate in the environment. The system uses the certificate request and the certificate authority configuration information from the CA client object to request the certificate from the certificate authority. If the certificate authority returns a certificate, the requestCAcertificate command stores the certificate in the specified key store and returns a message of COMPLETE.

   parameters. Use the requestCACertificate command and the following required parameters to request a certificate from a certificate

   Parameter	Description	Data type
   -certificateAlias	Alias of the certificate. We can specify a predefined certificate request.	String
   -keyStoreName	Name of the keystore object that stores the CA certificate. Use the listKeyStores command to display a list of available keystores.	String
   -caClientName	Name of the CA client that was used to create the CA certificate.	String
   -revocationPassword	Password to use to revoke the certificate at a later date.	String

   certificate request options. If we do not specify an optional parameter,

   Parameter	Description	Data type
   -keyStoreScope	Management scope of the keystore. For a dmgr profile, the default value is the cell scope. For an application server profile, the default value is the node scope.	String
   -caClientScope	Management scope of the CA client. For a dmgr profile, the default value is the cell scope. For an application server profile, the default value is the node scope.	String
   -certificateCommonName	Common name (CN) part of the full distinguished name (DN) of the certificate. This common name can represent a person, company, or machine. For websites, the common name is frequently the DNS host name where the server resides.	String
   -certificateSize	Size of the certificate key. The valid values are 512, 1024, 2048, 4096 and 8192. The default value is 2048.	String
   -certificateOrganization	Specifies the organization portion of the distinguished name.	String
   -certificateOrganizationalUnit	Specifies the organizational unit portion of the distinguished name.	String
   -certificateLocality	Locality portion of the distinguished name.	String
   -certificateState	State portion of the distinguished name.	String
   -certificateZip	Specifies the zip code portion of the distinguished name.	String
   -certificateCountry	Country portion of the distinguished name.	String

   Use the following example command syntax to request a certificate from a certificate authority:

   AdminTask.requestCACertificate('-certificateAlias newCertificate -keyStoreName CellDefaultKeyStore -CAClientName myCAClient -revocationPassword revokeCApw')

   The command returns one of two values: Certificate COMPLETE or certificate PENDING. If the command returns the Certificate COMPLETE message, the certificate authority returned the requested certificate and the default personal certificate is replaced. If the command returns the certificate PENDING message, the certificate authority did not yet return a certificate. Use the queryCACertificate command to view the current status of the certificate request, as the following example displays:

   AdminTask.queryCACertificate('-certificateAlias newCertificate -keyStoreName CellDefaultKeyStore')

4. Save the configuration changes.

   Use the following command example to save the configuration changes:

   AdminConfig.save()

Results

The default personal certificate for the server is a certificate created by an external CA.

Related tasks

Configure certificate authority client objects

Set a certificate authority certificate as the default certificate

CAClientCommands (AdminTask)

PersonalCertificateCommands (AdminTask)