You can generate a key, a temporary certificate,
and a certificate request form with the Configuration utility or
from the command line.
Note:
We recommend using the Configuration utility for this process.
The certification process is generally handled through a web
page. Parts of the process require you to cut and paste
information from a browser window in the Configuration utility
to another browser window on the website.
You must have a separate certificate for each
domain name on each BIG-IP Controller or redundant pair of
BIG-IP Controllers, regardless of how many non-SSL web servers
are load balanced by the BIG-IP Controller.
If you are already running an SSL server, you can use your
existing keys to generate temporary certificates and request
files. However, you must obtain new certificates if the ones you
have are not for the following web server types: Apache +
OpenSSL Stronghold
Generating a key and obtaining a
certificate using the Configuration utility
To obtain a certificate, you must have a private key. If you do
not have a key, you can use the Configuration utility on the
BIG-IP Controller to generate a key and a temporary certificate.
You can also use the Configuration utility to create a request
file that you can submit. You must complete the following tasks
in the Configuration utility to create a key and generate a
certificate request.
Generate a certificate request
Submit the certificate request to a certificate authority and
generate a temporary certificate
Install the SSL certificate from the certificate authority
Finally, install the intermediate certificate authority
certificate.
To create a new certificate request
using the Configuration utility
In the navigation pane, click Proxies. The Proxies screen opens.
On Proxies screen, click the Create SSL Certificate Request tab,
the New SSL Certificate Request screen opens. In the Key
Information section, select a key length and key file name, you
can choose either 512 or 1024 bytes. Type in the name of the key
file. This should be the fully qualified domain name of the
server for which you want to request a certificate. You must add
the .key file extension to the name.
In the Certificate Information section, type
the information specific to your company.
Country - Type the two letter ISO code for your country
State or Province - Type the full name of your state or province
Locality - Type the city or town name
Organization - Type the name of your organization
Organizational Unit - Type the division name or organizational
unit
Domain Name - Type the name of the domain upon which the server
is installed
Email Address - Type the email address of a person to be
contacted about this
Challenge Password - Type the password you want to use as the
challenge password
Retype Password - Retype the password you entered for the
challenge password.
Click the Generate Certificate Request
button.
After a short pause, the SSL Certificate Request screen opens.
Use the SSL Certificate Request screen to start the process of
obtaining a certificate from a certificate authority, and then
to generate and install a temporary certificate.
Generate and install a temporary
certificate
Click the Generate Self-Signed Certificate button to create a
self-signed certificate for the server. We recommend that you
use the temporary certificate for testing only. You should make
your site live only after you receive a properly-signed
certificate from a certificate authority. When you click this
button, a temporary certificate is created and installed on the
BIG-IP Controller. This temporary certificate allows you to set
up an SSL gateway for the SSL Accelerator while you wait for a
certificate authority to return a permanent certificate.
Generating a key and obtaining a
certificate from the command line
To obtain a valid certificate, you must have a private key. If
you do not have a key, you can use the genconf and genkey
utilities on the BIG-IP Controller to generate a key and a
temporary certificate. The genkey and gencert utilities
automatically generate a request file that you can submit to a
certificate authority. If you have a key, you can use the
gencert utility to generate a temporary certificate and request
file.
These utilities are described in the following
list:
genconf - This utility creates a key configuration file that contains
specific information about your organization. The genkey utility
uses this information to generate a certificate.
genkey - After you run the genconf utility, run this utility to
generate a temporary 30 day certificate for testing the SSL
Accelerator on the BIG-IP Controller. This utility also creates
a request file that you can submit to a certificate authority to
obtain a certificate.
gencert - If you already have a key, run this utility to generate a
temporary certificate and request file for the SSL Accelerator.
To generate a key configuration file
using the genconf utility
If you do not have a key, you can generate a key and certificate
with the genconf and genkey utilities. First, run the genconf
utility from the root (/) with the following commands:
cd /
/usr/local/bin/genconf
The utility prompts you for information about
the organization for which you are requesting certification.
This information includes:
The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server
The two-letter ISO code for your country
The full name of your state or province
The city or town name
The name of your organization
The division name or organizational unit
To generate a key using the genkey
utility
After you run the genconf utility, you can generate a key with
the genkey utility.
cd / /user/local/bin/genkey
After the utility starts, it prompts you to
verify the information created by the genconf utility. After you
run this utility, a certificate request form is created in the
following directory:
/config/bigconfig/fqdn.req
In addition to creating a request form that
you can submit to a certificate authority this utility also
generates a temporary certificate. The temporary certificate is
located in:
/config/bigconfig/ssl.crt/fqdn.crt
The "fqdn" is the fully qualified domain name
of the server. Note that you must copy the key and certificate
to the other controller in a redundant system, but for an SSL
proxy you should have a valid certificate from your certificate
authority.
To generate a certificate with an
existing key using the gencert utility
To generate a temporary certificate and request file to submit
to the certificate authority with the gencert utility, you must
first copy an existing key for a server into the following
directory on the BIG-IP Controller:
/config/bigconfig/ssl.key/
After you copy the key into this directory,
type the following command at the command line:
cd / /user/local/bin/gencert
After the utility starts, it will prompt you
for various information. After you run this utility, a
certificate request form is created in the following directory:
/config/bigconfig/ssl.crt/fqdn.req
The "fqdn" is the fully qualified domain name
of the server.
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