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1. Check that the SSL directories are there, and cd to them.

   Code Block
   ls -l /var/lib/ssl cd /var/lib/ssl

   • If there are not there, create them.

     Code Block
     mkdir /var/lib/ssl mkdir /var/lib/ssl/certs mkdir /var/lib/ssl/private cd /var/lib/ssl

2. Set the temporary hostname variable to be the hostname of the system you are creating certs for.

   Code Block
   hostname=[HOSTNAME]

3. Generate rsa key
   • This simply generates some random stuff:

     Code Block
     ps > /tmp/foo ps -elf >> /tmp/foo cd /var/lib/ssl openssl genrsa -rand /tmp/foo 1024 > /var/lib/ssl/private/`hostname`-key.pem

4. Generate request for a certificate

   Code Block
   cd /var/lib/ssl/ openssl req -key -new /var/lib/ssl/private/`hostname`-key.pem -new \ > /var/lib/ssl/certs/`hostname`-req.pem

   #*send the cert request file to mitcert@mit.edu,

   Code Block

   Please be aware, the organization (O) is: Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the common name (CN) is the name of the server or service, including the domain name (.mit.edu). Also, some servers, such as Thalia servers, can represent an entire subdomain. These servers will need certificates issued with a wildcard in the domain name, such as *.isda-thalia-1.mit.edu. Remember, if the server is a Thalia server, it will need a wildcard certificate and DNS record for *.`hostname`, and if it is doing any type of authentication, it will need a joint client/server certificate to be able to connect to the Shibboleth server (and have end users connect to it as well).

5. To generate a self signed temporary certificate, add the x509 and nodes options to the openssl command line.

   Code Block
   cd /var/lib/ssl openssl req -key /var/lib/ssl/private/`hostname`-key.pem -new -x509 -nodes > /var/lib/ssl/certs/`hostname`-temp-cert.pem

6. When you receive a certificate from MIT Certificates, save it as:

   Code Block
   /var/lib/ssl/certs/`hostname`-cert.pem

7. Create the symlinks that will allow Apache to function correctly.

   Code Block
   ln -s /var/lib/ssl/certs/`hostname`-cert.pem /var/lib/ssl/certs/host-cert.pem ln -s /var/lib/ssl/private/`hostname`-key.pem /var/lib/ssl/private/host-key.pem

8. Commands to view cert information:
   • to look at a request:

     Code Block
     openssl req -in /afs/athena.mit.edu/project/amit-dsl/Private/ssl-certs/${hostname} /host-req.pem \-text

   • to look at the private key:

     Code Block
     openssl rsa -in /afs/athena.mit.edu/project/amit-dsl/Private/ssl-certs/${hostname}/host-key.pem -text

   • to look at the server certificate:

     Code Block
     openssl x509 -in /afs/athena.mit.edu/project/amit-dsl/Private/ssl-certs/${hostname}/host-cert.pem -text