Certificates are signatures by vendors to indicate that they are the owner of a set of code or an application. Some companies only run software that is digitally signed. Novell signs its software for all product releases, including major and minor releases, as well as service pack releases:
Major releases are certified for two years from the GA ship date. Certificates issued expire within two years of their issuance.
Minor releases are certified using the same certificate as the major release. The exception is that minor releases shipped more than six months after the major version GA date are issued a new signing certificate that is valid for two years from the GA ship date.
Service pack releases are certified using the same certificate as the release it services (such as major or minor).
Table 4-1 provides information regarding certificate expiration:
Table 4-1 Certificate Expiration
|
Product Version |
Certificate Expiration Date |
|---|---|
|
Operations Center v5.0, PB7 |
October 24, 2015 |
|
Operations Center v5.0 |
March 24, 2013 |
|
Managed Objects v4.6 |
April 10, 2011 |
|
Managed Objects v4.7 |
December 11, 2011 |
Operations Center does not re‑sign previous GA release software. Software that has an expired certificate typically runs without issues, except that the user is warned beforehand that the signing certificate has expired, meaning the certificate can no longer be used for signing. This has nothing to do with the validity of the software code; after the code is signed, it remains valid indefinitely.