Tons of people seem to have wondered whether they can use OpenSSL to set up their own CA and server certificates. The answer is most certainly and for people who've never encountered it before, I'll tell you how.
SETTING UP YOUR CA ----------------------------------- Step 1. Go to www.openssl.org and download the source code. Even Windows users need to build it, so you'll need access to a C compiler. You may be able to get hold of prebuilt binaries on the web and you can certainly get hold of the GNU C compiler or you can use Borland and Microsoft compilers. There are good build instructions included with the source distribution, so I won't go into build details. Step 2. Create directories to hold your CA keys, your server keys and, if you want to use SSL client authentication, your client keys. For the sake of argument let's assume that these directories are called "ssl/ca", "ssl/server" and "ssl/client". Step 3. Create a private key and certificate request for your own CA: openssl req -new -newkey rsa:1024 -nodes -out ssl/ca/ca.csr -keyout ssl/ca/ca.key Step 4. Create your CA's self-signed certificate (note lasts one year - increase the days setting to whatever you want): openssl x509 -trustout -signkey ssl/ca/ca.key -days 365 -req -in ssl/ca/ca.csr -out ssl/ca/ca.pem WINDOWS USERS:If you copy the ca.pem file to ca.crt and edit the file so that the strings "TRUSTED CERTIFICATE" read "CERTIFICATE", you can import your CA certificate into your trusted root certificates store. Step 5. Import the CA certificate into the JDK certificate authorities keystore: keytool -import -keystore $JAVA_JOME/jre/lib/security/cacerts -file ssl/ca/ca.pem -alias my_ca Windows users need to replace $JAVA_HOME with %JAVA_HOME%. Step 6. Create a file to hold your CA's serial numbers. This file starts with the number "2": echo "02" > ssl/ca/ca.srl SETTING UP YOUR WEB SERVER ---------------------------------------------------- Step 7. Create a keystore for your web server. keytool -genkey -alias tomcat -keyalg RSA -keysize 1024 -keystore ssl/server/server.ks -storetype JKS Step 8. Create a certificate request for your web server. keytool -certreq -keyalg RSA -alias tomcat -file ssl/server/server.csr -keystore ssl/server/server.ks You need to edit the certificate request file slightly. Open it up in a text editor and amend the text which reads "NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST" to "CERTIFICATE REQUEST" Step 9. Have your CA sign your certificate request: openssl x509 -CA ssl/ca/ca.pem -CAkey ssl/ca/ca.key -CAserial ssl/ca/ca.srl -req -in ssl/server/server.csr -out ssl/server/server.crt -days 365 Step 10. Import your signed server certificate into your server keystore: keytool -import -alias tomcat -keystore ssl/server/server.ks -trustcacerts -file ssl/server/server.crt You should see a message "Certificate reply was installed in keystore". Step 11. Import your CA certificate into your server keystore: keytool -import -alias my_ca -keystore ssl/server/server.ks -trustcacerts -file ssl/ca/ca.pem This step is only necessary if you wish to use SSL client authentication with Tomcat. Step 12. Set up an SSL connector for Tomcat. I assume that you know, or can find out, how to do this. Open up conf/server.xml in a text editor and search for the text "keystoreFile". Ensure that the attribute value is the keystore you've created above. SETTING UP AN SSL CLIENT ------------------------------------------- Step 13. Create a client certificate request: openssl req -new -newkey rsa:512 -nodes -out ssl/client/client1.req -keyout ssl/client/client1.key The common name of the client must match a user in Tomcat's user realm (e.g. an entry in conf/tomcat-users.xml). Step 14. Have your CA sign your client certificate. openssl x509 -CA ssl/ca/ca.pem -CAkey ssl/ca/ca.key -CAserial ssl/ca/ca.srl -req -in ssl/client/client1.req -out ssl/client/client1.pem -days 365 Step 15. Generate a PKCS12 file containing your server key and server certificate. openssl pkcs12 -export -clcerts -in ssl/client/client1.pem -inkey ssl/client/client1.key -out ssl/client/client1.p12 -name "my_client_certificate" Step 16. Import the PKCS12 file into your web browser to use as your client certificate and key. Repeat steps 13-16 as often as required. Step 17. Enable client certificate authentication in Tomcat. Open up conf/server.xml and search for the text "clientAuth". Set the value of the attribute to "true". I apologize in advance for any typing errors. Hopefully, it's all correct and you should all be able to get up to speed with OpenSSL. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
