Developer's Guide to Oracle Solaris Security

ProcedureTo Request a Certificate for Signing a Provider

Typically, the developer of a provider requests the certificate. However, the system administrator might be called on to handle the request as part of a site's security policy.

  1. Request a certificate from Oracle by using the elfsign request command.

    The command generates a private key along with the certificate request.


    % elfsign request -k private-keyfile -r certificate-request
    
    private-keyfile

    Path to the location of the private key. This key is needed later when the system administrator signs providers for the cryptographic framework. The directory should be secure. Use a different directory from the directory that holds the Oracle certificate.

    certificate-request

    Path to the certificate request.

    The following example shows how a typical request is submitted to Oracle:


    % elfsign request \
    -k /securecrypt/private/MyCompany.private.key \
    -r /reqcrypt/MyCompany.certrequest
    
    Enter Company Name / Stock Symbol or some other globally unique identifier.
    This will be the prefix of the Certificate DN:MYCORP
    
    The government of the United States of America restricts the export of 
    "open cryptographic interfaces", also known as "crypto-with-a-hole".
    Due to this restriction, all providers for the  cryptographic
    framework must be signed, regardless of the country of origin.
    
    The terms "retail" and "non-retail" refer to export classifications 
    for products manufactured in the USA.  These terms define the portion of the
    world where the product may be shipped.  Roughly speaking, "retail" is 
    worldwide (minus certain excluded nations) and "non-retail" is domestic 
    only (plus some highly favored nations).  If your provider is subject to
    USA export control, then you must obtain an export approval (classification)
    from the government of the USA before exporting your provider.  It is
    critical that you specify the obtained (or expected, when used during 
    development) classification to the following questions so that your provider
    will be appropriately signed.
    
    Do you have retail export approval for use without restrictions based
    on the caller (for example, IPsec)? [Yes/No] N
    
    If you have non-retail export approval for unrestricted use of your
    provider by callers, are you also planning to receive retail approval
    restricting which export sensitive callers (for example, IPsec) may
    use your provider? [Y/N] Y
    

    The private key is placed in the file name that you specify, for example, /etc/crypto/private/MyCompany.private.key file. The certificate request is also placed in a file name that you specify, for example, /reqcrypt/MyCompany.certrequest file.

  2. Submit the certificate request to Oracle.

    Send the certificate request to the following email address: solaris-crypto-req@sun.com

    Oracle generates a certificate from your certificate request file. A copy of the certificate is sent back to you.

  3. Store the certificate that you receive from Oracle in the /etc/crypto/certs directory.

    For security, the private key and the certificate request should be stored in other directories.