How to create certificates for a server

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For creating certificates for a server, first a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file is created. It is then signed by the Certificate Authority (CA). Renate will take care of the “signing” part via a self-service portal.  Post approval, the Certificate and Interim certificate download links will be sent to us. We need to download those certificates and need to configure the conf files correctly in the Apache HTTP server.

On our side, we need to generate CSR file, we need to run the openssl command as show in the example below. This will work in both MAC OS and Linux. This will output Key file and CSR file. You need to mail Renate the CSR file.

openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout rime.asu.edu.key -out rime.asu.edu.csr

Once you run this command, it will ask for few details. We need to fill in the details as shown in the example below.

Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:US
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:AZ
Locality Name (eg, city) []:Tempe
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:ASU
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:SoMSS
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:rime.asu.edu
Email Address []:renate@asu.edu

Please hit enter for the following ‘extra’ attributes:

A challenge password []:
An optional company name []:

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NOTE:

1. No need to provide challenge password or optional company name, to skip just press enter.
2. The above example is for rime.asu.edu server. Please replace the domain name as per your requirement. BE CAREFUL WITH THE DOMAIN NAMES.

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Thank you

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