Generating a Certificate Signing Request


	TIP: You should create a Certificate Policy to be used in conjunction with local certificates. A Certificate Policy determines the authentication requirements and the authority limits required for the validation of a certificate.

To generate a local certificate:

Click the New Signing Request button. The Certificate Signing Request dialog is displayed.

In the Generate Certificate Signing Request section, enter an alias name for the certificate in the Certificate Alias field.

Select the Request field types from the drop-down menus, then enter information for the certificate in the associated fields.


	NOTE: For each Request, you can select your country from the associated drop-down menu; for all other Requests, enter the information in the associated text field.


Request field menu	Request field types
Country	Country (default) State Locality or County Company or Organization
State	Country State (default) Locality, City, or County Company or Organization Department
Locality, City, or County	Locality, City, or County (default) Company or Organization Department Group Team
Company or Organization	Company or Organization (default) Department Group Team Common Name Serial Number E-Mail Address
Department	Department (default) Group Team Common Name Serial Number E-Mail Address
Group	Group (default) Team Common Name Serial Number E-Mail Address
Team	Team (default) Common Name Serial Number E-Mail Address
Common Name	Common Name (default) Serial Number E-Mail Address

As you enter information in the Request fields, the Distinguished Name (DN) is created in the Subject Distinguished Name field.

Optionally, you can also attach a Subject Alternative Name to the certificate after selecting the type from the drop-down menu:

•

Domain Name

•

Email Address

•

IPv4 Address

The Subject Key type is preset as an RSA algorithm. RSA is a public key cryptographic algorithm used for encrypting data.

Select a signature algorithm from the Signature algorithm drop-down menu:

•

MDS

•

SHA1 (default)

•

SHA256

•

SHA384

•

SHA512

Select a subject key type from the Subject Key Type drop-down menu:

•

RSA (default)

•

ECDSA

Select a subject Key size from the Subject Key Size drop-down menu.


	NOTE: Not all key sizes are supported by a Certificate Authority, therefore, you should check with your CA for supported key sizes.

•

1024 bits (default)

•

1536 bits

•

2048 bits

•

4096 bits

Click Generate to create a certificate signing request file.

When the Certificate Signing Request is generated, a message describing the result is displayed in the Status area at the bottom of the browser dialog and a new entry appears in the Certificates and Certificate Requests table with the type Pending request.

Click the Export icon. The Export Certificate dialog displays.

Click Export to download the file to your computer. An Opening <certificate> dialog displays.

Click OK to save the file to a directory on your computer.

You have generated the Certificate Request that you can send to your Certificate Authority for validation.