3.0 Certificates—Managing

Path: Port 9443 Appliance Console  Digital Certificates icon

Use this tool to manage the appliance’s certificates and maintain its certificate store.

Table 3-1 Using the Digital Certificates Page

Field, Option, or Button

Information and/or Action

Certificates in the Selected Key Store

  • Key Store drop-down

  • Use this drop-down list to filter whether JVM or Web Application Certificates are listed.

  • File drop-down

  • This drop-down list lets you create a new key pair, import a trusted certificate or key pair, export a certificate you have selected in the list, or generate a Certificate Signing Request for a web application that you have selected.

  • Edit drop-down

  • This exposes the option to delete a certificate that you have selected.

  • View Info

  • This lets you view the information for a selected certificate

  • Reload

  • This lets you reload a selected certificate.

About Appliance Certificates

  • Self-signed Certificate: The Micro Focus PostgreSQL appliance ships with a self-signed digital certificate.

    If needed, you can generate appliance certificates and Certificate Sigining Requests for certificate authorities (CA) such as VeriSign or Equifax.

    However, the self-signed certificate included with the appliance should be sufficient for the vast majority of deployments because security practices dictate that databases only be deployed inside an organization’s firewall.

  • Java Certificates: All certificates for the IBM Java package bundled with the underlying SLES OS are installed with the appliance.

If You Update a Service That the PostgreSQL Appliance Supports

Unless instructed otherwise in the service documentation, you do not need to update certificates when you update a service that the PostgreSQL appliance supports.

Managing Certificates

Creating a New Self-Signed Certificate

  1. In the Port 9443 Console Digital Certificates > Key Store drop-down list, ensure that Web Application Certificates is selected.

  2. 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.

    Organizational Unit (OU): (Optional) Small organization name, such as a department or division. For example, Purchasing.

    Organization (O): (Optional) Large organization name. For example, Micro Focus

    City or Lacality (L): (Optional) City name. For example, Provo.

    State or Province (ST): (Optional) State or province name. For example, Utah.

    Two-letter Country Code (C): (Optional) Two-letter country code. For example, US.

  3. Click OK to create the self-signed certificate.

Getting a Certificate Signed by a Certificate Authority

  1. After selecting the self-signed certificate, click File > Certificate Requests > Generate CSR.

  2. Sendl the certificate to a certificate authority (CA), such as Verisign, using whatever process they have defined.

    Usually, the CA takes your Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and generates an official certificate based on the information in the CSR. The CA then mails the new certificate and certificate chain back to you.

  3. After you have received the certificate and certificate chain from the CA:

    1. Revisit the Digital Certificates page by clicking Digital Certificates from the appliance.

    2. Click File > Import > Trusted Certificate. Browse to the trusted certificate chain that you received from the CA, then click OK.

    3. Select the self-signed certificate, then click File > Certification Request > Import CA Reply.

    4. 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.

  4. Activate the certificate, as described in Activating a Certificate.

Activating a Certificate

  1. On the Digital Certificates page, select the certificate that you want to make active, click Set as Active, then click Yes.

  2. Verify that the certificate and the certificate chain were created correctly by selecting the certificate and clicking View Info.

Using an Existing Certificate and Key Pair

When you use an existing certificate and key pair, use a .P12 key pair format.

  1. Click the Digital Certificates icon.

  2. Click File > Import > Trusted Certificate. Browse to and select your existing certificate, then click OK.

  3. Click File > Import > Trusted Certificate. Browse to your existing certificate chain for the certificate that you selected in Step 2, then click OK.

  4. Click File > Import > Key Pair, then browse to and select your .P12 key pair file, specify your password if needed, then click OK.

    Because of a browser compatibility issue with HTML 5, the path to the certificate is sometimes shown as c:\fakepath. This does not adversely affect the import process.

  5. Continue with Activating a Certificate.