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Default chained certificate configuration in SSL

When a WAS process starts for the first time, the SSL run time initializes the default keystores and truststores specified in the SSL configuration.

The chained certificates created during profile creation have a 1 year life span by default. The default root certificate, used to sign the default chained certificate, has a life span of 15 years.

The life span of the default and the root certificates can be customized during profile creation. An advantage in this type of chained certificate is that only the signer from the root certificate is needed to establish trust. When the chained certificate is regenerated with the same root certificate, clients using that root signer certificate for trust do not lose their trust.

Default keystore and truststore properties

WAS creates the key.p12 default keystore file and the trust.p12 default truststore file during profile creation. A default, chained certificate is also created in the key.p12 file. The root signer, or public key, of the chained certificate is extracted from key.p12 file and added to the trust.p12 file. If the files do not exist during process startup, they are re-created during startup.

We can identify keystore and truststore defaults because of their suffixes:

  • DefaultKeyStore
  • DefaultTrustStore

Also, in the SSL configuration, set the fileBased attribute to true so that the runtime environment only uses the default keystores and truststore.

On a base application server, default key and truststores are stored in the node directory of the configuration repository. For example, the default key.p12 and trust.p12 stores are created with the default AppSrv01 profile name, the myhostNode01Cell name, and the myhostNode01 node name. The keystore and truststore are located in the following directories:

  • C:\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\config\cells\myhostNode01Cell\nodes\myhostNode01\key.p12
  • C:\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\config\cells\myhostNode01Cell\nodes\myhostNode01\trust.p12

For all default keystores generated by WebSphere Application Server the default password is...

    WebAS

Default chained certificate

The default chained certificate of the server along with a root self-signed certificate used to sign the default chained certificate are created during profile creation.

We can re-create the certificates with different information simply by deleting the *.p12 files in /config and /etc. Change the four properties in the next code example to the values we want the certificates to contain, then restart the processes. This causes the server certificate in /config and the client certificate in /etc to differ.

The certificate properties in the next code example exist in ssl.client.props, but do not exist in the server configuration. However, we can use these values in the server configuration by adding them as custom security properties in the console. Click...

    Security | Global security | Custom properties

...to change the following properties:

    com.ibm.ssl.defaultCertReqAlias=default_alias
    com.ibm.ssl.defaultCertReqSubjectDN=cn=${hostname},ou=myhostNode01,ou=myhostNode01Cell,o=IBM,c=US
    com.ibm.ssl.defaultCertReqDays=365
    com.ibm.ssl.defaultCertReqKeySize=1024
    com.ibm.ssl.rootCertSubjectDN=cn=${hostname},ou=Root Certificate, ou=myhostNode01, ou=myhostNode01Cell,o=IBM,c=US
    com.ibm.ssl.rootCertValidDays=7300
    com.ibm.ssl.rootCertAlias=root
    com.ibm.ssl.rootCertKeySize=1024

After changing the properties...

  1. Delete the default key.p12 keystore and trust.p12 truststore files for the deployment manager, which contain the default chained certificate. If the keystore and truststore file do not exist, WebSphere Application Server automatically generates them and creates new default certificates using the previously listed property values.

  2. Delete the root keystore, which is the root-key.p12 file, to regenerate the root certificate with the previously listed properties.

  3. Restart the deployment manager, its node, and all of the servers.

  4. Sign each node using the root certificate.

    • If the nodes are not federated, federate each node into the deployment manager using the addNode command.

      The default certificate for the node is regenerated using the root certificate for the cell.

    • If the nodes are federated, renew the certificate for each node using the root certificate for the cell.

      We can renew the certificate using the console or using the renewCertificate command.

If a default_alias value already exists, the run time appends _#, where the number sign (#) is a number that increases until it is unique in the keystore. ${hostname} is a variable that is resolved to the host name where it was originally created. The default expiration date of chained certificates is one year from their creation date.

The run time monitors the expiration dates of chained certificates using the certificate expiration monitor. These chained certificates are automatically replaced along with any signer certificates when they are within the expiration threshold, which is typically 30 days before expiration. We can increase the default key size beyond 1024 bits only when the Java runtime environment policy files are unrestricted (that is, not exported). For more information, see Certificate expiration monitoring in SSL.

Default keystore and truststore configurations for new Base Application Server processes

The following sample code shows the default SSL configuration for a base application server. References to the default keystores and truststores files are highlighted. 
<repertoire xmi:id="SSLConfig_1" 
            alias="NodeDefaultSSLSettings"  
            managementScope="ManagementScope_1">

    <setting xmi:id="SecureSocketLayer_1" 
             clientAuthentication="false"  
             securityLevel="HIGH" 
             enabledCiphers="" 
             jsseProvider="IBMJSSE2" 
             sslProtocol="SSL_TLS"  
             keyStore="KeyStore_1" 
             trustStore="KeyStore_2" 
             trustManager="TrustManager_1"  
             keyManager="KeyManager_1"/>

</repertoire>

Default keystore

In the following sample code, the keystore object that represents the default keystore is similar to the XML object. 
<keyStores xmi:id="KeyStore_1" 
           name="NodeDefaultKeyStore" 
           password="{xor}349dkckdd=" 
           provider="IBMJCE" 
           location="${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT}/config/cells/myhostNode01Cell/nodes/myhostNode01/key.p12" 
           type="PKCS12" 
           fileBased="true"  
           hostList="" 
           initializeAtStartup="true" 
           managementScope="ManagementScope_1"/>

The NodeDefaultKeyStore keystore contains the personal certificate that represents the identity of the secure endpoint. Any keystore reference can use the ${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT} variable, which is expanded by the run time. The PKCS12 default keystore type is in the most interoperable format, which means that it can be imported into most browsers. The myhostNode01Cell password is encoded. The management scope determines which server run time loads the keystore configuration into memory, as shown in the following code sample: 

<managementScopes xmi:id="ManagementScope_1" 
                  scopeName="(cell):myhostNode01Cell:(node):myhostNode01" 
                  scopeType="node"/>

Any configuration objects stored in the security.xml file whose management scopes are outside the current process scope are not loaded in the current process. Instead, the management scope is loaded by servers contained within the myhostNode01 node. Any application server that is on the specific node can view the keystore configuration.

When you list the contents of the key.p12 file to show the chained certificate, note that the common name (CN) of the distinguished name (DN) is the host name of the resident machine. This listing enables you to verify the host name by its URL connections. Additionally, we can verify the host name from a custom trust manager. For more information, see Trust manager control of X.509 certificate trust decisions.

Contents of default keystore

The following sample code shows the contents of the default key.p12 file in a keytool list:

    keytool -list -v -keystore c:\WebSphere\AppServer\profile\AppSrv01\profiles\config\cells\myhostNode01Cell\nodes\myhostNode01\key.p12 -storetype PKCS12 -storepass ***** 

Keystore type: PKCS12
Keystore provider: IBMJCE
 Your keystore contains 1 entry
 Alias name: default Creation date: Dec 31, 1969
Entry type: keyEntry
Certificate chain length: 2
Certificate[1]:
Owner: CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US
Issuer: CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=Root Certificate, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US
Serial number: 4e48f29aafea6
Valid from: 2/7/08 1:03 PM until: 2/6/09 1:03 PM
Certificate fingerprints:
  MD5:  DB:FE:65:DB:40:13:F4:48:A4:CE:2F:4F:60:A5:FF:2C
  SHA1: A1:D4:DD:4B:DE:7B:45:F7:4D:AA:6A:FC:92:38:78:53:7A:99:F1:DC
Certificate[2]:
Owner: CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=Root Certificate, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US
Issuer: CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=Root Certificate, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US
Serial number: 4e48e5fd4eae3
Valid from: 2/7/08 1:03 PM until: 2/2/28 1:03 PM
Certificate fingerprints:
  MD5:  A5:9B:05:78:CF:AB:89:94:C9:2E:F1:87:34:B3:FC:75
  SHA1: 43:74:B6:C7:FA:C1:0F:19:F2:51:2B:17:60:0D:34:93:55:BF:D5:D2
 *******************************************
*******************************************

The default alias name and the keyEntry entry type indicate that the private key is stored with the public key, which represents a complete personal certificate. The certificate is owned

    byCN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US

...and it is issued by the default root certificate, which is owned by...

    CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=Root Certificate, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US

By default, the certificate is valid for one year from the date of creation.

Additionally, in some signer-exchange situations, the certificate fingerprint ensures that the sent certificate has not been modified. The fingerprint, which is a hash algorithm output for the certificate, is displayed by the WAS run time during an automated signer exchange on the client side. The client fingerprint must match the fingerprint that is displayed on the server. The run time typically uses the SHA1 hash algorithm to generate certificate fingerprints.

Default truststore

In the following sample code, the keystore object represents the default trust.p12 truststore. The truststore contains signer certificates necessary for making trust decisions: 
<keyStores xmi:id="KeyStore_2" 
           name="NodeDefaultTrustStore"  
           password="{xor}349dkckdd=" 
           provider="IBMJCE" 
           location="${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT}/config/cells/myhostNode01Cell/nodes/myhostNode01/trust.p12" 
           type="PKCS12"  
           fileBased="true" 
           hostList="" 
           initializeAtStartup="true" 
           managementScope="ManagementScope_1"/>

Contents of default truststore

The following sample code shows the contents of the default trust.p12 truststore in a keytool listing. By default, for the sample chained certificate, the root certificate signer is included in the trust store. The root signer alias name and the trustedCertEntry entry type indicate that the certificate is the public key. The private key is not stored in this truststore. In addition, all truststores contain the default DataPower certificate.

    keytool -list -v -keystore c:\WebSphere\AppServer\profile\AppSrv01\profiles\config\cells\myhostNode01Cell\nodes\myhostNode01\trust.p12 -storetype PKCS12 -storepass ***** 

Keystore type: PKCS12
Keystore provider: IBMJCE
 Your keystore contains 2 entries  Alias name: root Creation date: Dec 31, 1969
Entry type: trustedCertEntry
 Owner: CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=Root Certificate, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US
Issuer: CN=myhost.austin.ibm.com, OU=Root Certificate, OU=myhostNode01Cell, OU=myhostNode01, O=IBM, C=US
Serial number: 4e48e5fd4eae3
Valid from: 2/7/08 1:03 PM until: 2/2/28 1:03 PM
Certificate fingerprints:
   MD5:  A5:9B:05:78:CF:AB:89:94:C9:2E:F1:87:34:B3:FC:75
   SHA1: 43:74:B6:C7:FA:C1:0F:19:F2:51:2B:17:60:0D:34:93:55:BF:D5:D2
 *******************************************
*******************************************
 Alias name: datapower
Creation date: Dec 31, 1969
Entry type: trustedCertEntry
 Owner: OU=Root CA, O="DataPower Technology, Inc.", C=US
Issuer: OU=Root CA, O="DataPower Technology, Inc.", C=US
Serial number: 0
Valid from: 6/11/03 1:23 PM until: 6/6/23 1:23 PM
Certificate fingerprints:
   MD5:  18:AC:86:D1:9A:90:A2:AE:8B:28:F9:A8:75:C8:A9:DB
   SHA1: A9:BA:A4:B5:BC:26:2F:5D:2A:80:93:CA:BA:F4:31:05:F2:54:14:17


Subtopics


Related concepts

Secure communications using SSL
  • Renewing a certificate in SSL
  • PersonalCertificateCommands (AdminTask)