How to Obtain a Signature for an SSL Certificate

If you want to use a Certificate signed by a Certifying Authority, follow this procedure to submit the Certificate to the Certifying Authority to be signed.

Steps

1. Generate the Certificate Request.

   % keytool -certreq -v -alias tomcat -keyalg RSA -keystore /keystore-location

   /keystore-location is the location and filename where you stored the generated key.

2. Send the Certificate Request to the Certifying Authority.

   Follow the instructions provided by the Certifying Authority. The Certifying Authority returns a Certificate Reply.

3. Save the Certificate Reply to a file.

4. Verify the Certificate Reply.

   % keytool -printcert -file certificate-reply-file

   certificate-reply-file is the filename of the Certificate Reply that you received from the Certifying Authority.

5. Import the Certificate Reply file to the keystore file.

   % keytool -v -import -trustcacerts -keystore /keystore-location -file certificate-reply-file -alias tomcat

   /keystore-location is the location and filename where you stored the generated key. certificate-reply-file is the filename of the Certificate Reply that you received from the Certifying Authority.

6. Verify the imported Certificate Reply.

   % keytool -v -list -keystore /keystore-location

   /keystore-location is the location and filename where you stored the generated key.