Certificates

The Certificates page allows the management of the certificates that are needed by the various OpenVPN server instances running on the Connect Switchboard and is composed of four pages: Certificates, Certificate Authority, Revoked Certificates, and Certificate Revocation List.

Certificates

Here it is possible to manage all the certificates stored on the Connect Switchboard. The table, initially empty, shows all certificates along with the following details, one per each column:

  • Name. The name assigned to the certificate.

  • Subject. The collection of information that identify the certificate. itself. See the options below.

  • CA. The Certificate Authority used to generate the certificate.

  • Expiration Date. The final date of validity of the certificate.

  • Actions. What actions can be done on the certificate.

At the bottom of the table, on the left-hand side there is a navigation widget, that allows to navigate among the various pages composing the table, if there are many certificates, whereas on the right-hand side there is a reload widget, used to refresh the list of certificates.

Above the list, click on the Add new certificate button to create a new certificate. Upon clicking, the page will be replaced by a form that allows to provide all data necessary to the generation of a new certificate.

Add new certificate

The following options are available to add a new certificate to the Connect Switchboard.

Action

Select from this drop-down menu the method to add a certificate to the Connect Switchboard. The next options will change, depending on the choice made here.

Generate a new certificate

The first alternative allows to create a new certificate directly on the Connect Switchboard, by providing the following information. The capital letters in parentheses show the field of the certificate that will be filled by the value supplied and form the Subject of the certificate.

Note

A Root Certificate Authority is needed to create certificates, so create the Root CA before creating certificates.

Common name

The common name (CN) of the certificate’s owner, i.e., the name with which the owner will be identified.

Email address

The e-mail address of the certificate’s owner.

Subject Alternative Name

The alternative name for the subject, which allows a single certificate to be associated to multiple domains or resources. The available options are:

  • DNS. The DNS entry of the site.

  • IP. The IP address of the site.

  • email. An email address.

The actual value for each option must be written in the textbox on the right-hand side.

Hint

To add more alternative names, click on the Add button.

Organizational unit name

The Organisation Unit (OU) to which the owner belongs to, i.e., the company, enterprise, or institution department identified with the certificate.

Organization name

The organisation (O) to which the owner belongs to.

City

The city (L) in which the organisation is located.

State or province

The state or province (ST) in which the organisation is located.

Country

The Country (C) in which the organisation is located, chosen from those in the selection menu. By typing one or more letters, matching countries are searched for and displayed.

Certificate type

The type of the certificate, chosen between Client and Server from the drop-down menu.

Validity (days)

The number of days before the certificate expires.

PKCS12 file password

The password for the certificate, if needed.

PKCS12 file password Confirmation

Type once more the certificate’s password for confirmation.

Certificate digest algorithm

Choose from the drop-down menu the algorithm to be used to generate the certificate.

New in version 5.0.

Certificate key size

Choose from the drop-down menu the size of the key (in bits) used to generate the certificate.

New in version 5.0.

Certificate Authorities

This page allows to manage the CA, needed for the correct set up of the whole certificate infrastructure. Root and host certificates are usually generated automatically during the installation, but there is the option to upload a new CA by using the buttons below the table, for example to integrate the Connect Switchboard under an existing enterprise CA. There is also the option to manually generate new root/host certificates, see next section.

The table, once populated, shows the same information as in the Certificates page, with the only difference in the Actions available.

Upload CA certificate

By clicking on the Browse button, a file chooser will open, in which to supply the path to the certificate to be uploaded. Once chosen, a click on the Upload CA certificate will complete the upload process.

Generate new root/host certificates

This procedure can be applied only once when setting up for the first time the PKI infrastructure and it will generate two certificates: A root certificate authority and a host certificate; the latter will appear in the Certificates page. When clicking on the link, a form will replace the list, in which to supply the following data, that will be used in the new root and host certificates.

Note

The only way to generate a new root certificate is to delete the existing one from the command line.

System fully qualified domain name or IP address

The name of the system, that will be used as the certificate’s Common Name.

Email address

The e-mail address of the system’s owner or responsible.

Subject Alternative Name

The alternative name for the subject, which allows a single certificate to be associated to multiple domains or resources. The available options are:

  • DNS. The DNS entry of the site

  • IP. The IP address of the site

  • email. An email address

The actual value for each option must be written in the textbox on the right-hand side.

Hint

To add more alternative names, click on the Add button.

Organizational unit name

The Organisation Unit (OU) to which the system belongs to.

Organization name

The organisation (O) to which the system belongs to.

City

The city (L) in which the organisation is located.

State or province

The state or province (ST) in which the organisation is located.

Country

The Country (C) in which the organisation is located, chosen from those in the selection menu. By typing one or more letters, matching countries are searched for and displayed.

Validity (days)

The number of days before the certificate expires.

Certificate digest algorithm

Choose from the drop-down menu the algorithm to be used to generate the certificate.

Certificate key size

Choose from the drop-down menu the size of the key (in bits) used to generate the certificate.

Revoked Certificates

The certificates that have been revoked are listed in the table, that show the serial number and the subject of the certificate.

Download the Certificate Revocation List

A click on this link will allow to download the on a local workstation the Certificate Revocation List.

Certificate Revocation List

In this page can be managed all the Certificate Revocation lists that have been uploaded.

The table shows all the Certificate Revocation Lists and for each item in the table are show the name of the certificate, the issuer, the issued date, and the available actions.

It is possible to upload a certificate Revocation List by clicking on the Browse… button to search for it on the local workstation, then on the Upload CRL button to finalise the process.