Deciding Which Type of Certificate Authority to Use

Novell Certificate Server allows you to create certificates for both servers and end users. Server Certificates can be signed by either the Organizational CA or by an external or third-party CA. User certificates can only be signed by the Organizational CA.

During the Server Certificate object creation process, you will be asked which type of Certificate Authority will sign the Server Certificate object.

The Organizational Certificate Authority is specific to your organization and uses an organizational-specific public key for signing operations. The private key is created when you create the Organizational Certificate Authority.

An external Certificate Authority is managed by a third party outside of the eDirectory tree. An example of an external Certificate Authority is VeriSign*.

Both types of Certificate Authorities can be used simultaneously. Using one type of Certificate Authority does not preclude the use of the other.


Benefits of Using an Organizational Certificate Authority Provided with Novell Certificate Server


Benefits of Using an External Certificate Authority



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