Use the Digital Certificates page to add and activate certificates for the appliance. You can use it to create your own certificate and then have it signed by a CA, or you can use an existing certificate and key pair if you have one that you want to use.
The appliance ships with a self-signed certificate. Instead of using this self-signed certificate, NetIQ recommends that you use a trusted server certificate that is signed by a trusted certificate authority (CA), such as VeriSign or Equifax.
Refer to the following sections to change the appliance certificate:
You can create a self-signed certificate to enable the appliance for SSL communication or you can get your certificate signed by an official certificate authority such as Verisign.
The appliance manage console provides a Digital Certificates page that allows you to create a self-signed certificate for the appliance. The self-signed certificate allows the appliance to communicate over SSL.
Log in to the appliance management console as the vaadmin user.
https://mycompany.example.com:9443Click Digital Certificates.
In the Key Store drop-down list, ensure that Web Application Certificates is selected.
Click File > New Certificate (Key Pair), then specify the following information:
Alias: Specify a name that you want to use to identify and manage this certificate.
Validity (days): Specify how long you want the certificate to remain valid.
Key Algorithm: Select either RSA or DSA.
Key Size: Select the desired key size.
Signature Algorithm: Select the desired signature algorithm.
Common Name (CN): This must match the server name in the URL in order for browsers to accept the certificate for SSL communication.
Organization (O): (Optional) Large organization name. For example, My Company.
Organizational Unit (OU): (Optional) Small organization name, such as a department or division. For example, Purchasing.
Two-letter Country Code (C): (Optional) Two-letter country code. For example, US.
State or Province (ST): (Optional) State or province name. For example, Utah.
City or Locality (L): (Optional) City name. For example, Provo.
Click OK to create the certificate.
After the certificate is created, it is self-signed.
Make the certificate official. For more information, see Getting Your Certificate Officially Signed.
Instead of using a self-signed certificate, you can get your certificate signed by a trusted certificate authority such as Verisign.
On the Digital Certificates page, select the certificate that you just created, then click File > Certificate Requests > Generate CSR.
Complete the process of emailing your certificate to a certificate authority (CA), such as Verisign.
The CA takes your Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and generates an official certificate based on the information in the CSR. The CA then emails the new certificate and certificate chain back to you.
After you have received the official certificate and certificate chain from the CA:
Revisit the Digital Certificates page.
Click File > Import > Trusted Certificate. Browse to the trusted certificate chain that you received from the CA, then click OK.
Select the self-signed certificate, then click File > Certification Request > Import CA Reply.
Browse to and upload the official certificate to be used to update the certificate information.
On the Digital Certificates page, the name in the Issuer column for your certificate changes to the name of the CA that stamped your certificate.
Activate the certificate. For more information, see Activating the Certificate.
When you use an existing certificate and key pair, use a .P12 key pair format.
Log in to the appliance management console as the vaadmin user.
https://mycompany.example.com:9443Click Digital Certificates.
In the Key Store drop-down menu, select JVM Certificates.
Click File > Import > Trusted Certificate. Browse to and select your existing certificate, then click OK.
Click File > Import > Trusted Certificate. Browse to and select your existing certificate chain for the certificate that you selected in Step 4, then click OK.
In the Key Store drop-down menu, select Web Application Certificates.
Click File > Import > Key Pair. Browse to and select your .P12 key pair file, specify your password if needed, then click OK.
Continue with Activating the Certificate.
On the Digital Certificates page, in the Key Store drop-down menu, select Web Application Certificates.
Select the certificate that you want to make active, click Set as Active, then click Yes.
Verify that the certificate and the certificate chain were created correctly by selecting the certificate and clicking View Info.
When you successfully activate the certificate, click Close to exit the page.