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iPlanet Certificate Management System Command-Line Tools Guide |
About This Guide
The Command-Line Tools Guide describes various command-line tools or utilities that are bundled with iPlanet Certificate Management System (CMS). It provides the information such as the command syntax, platform support, examples, and so on, required to use these tools.This preface has the following sections:
What You Should Already Know
What You Should Already Know
This guide is intended for experienced system administrators who are planning to deploy Certificate Management System. CMS agents should refer to CMS Agent's Guide for information on how to perform agent tasks, such as handling certificate requests and revoking certificates.
Are familiar with the basic concepts of public-key cryptography and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.
Understand the concepts of intranet, extranet, and the Internet security and the role of digital certificates in a secure enterprise. These include the following topics:
Encryption and decryption
Public keys, private keys, and symmetric keys
Digital certificates, including various types of digital certificates
The role of digital certificates in a public-key infrastructure (PKI)
Are familiar with the role of Netscape Console in managing Netscape version 4.x servers. Otherwise, see the accompanying manual, Managing Servers with Netscape Console.
- If you are new to these concepts, we recommend you read the security-related documents available online at this URL: http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/security.html
- You may also refer to the security-related appendixes (Appendix D and Appendix E) of the accompanying manual, Managing Servers with Netscape Console.
Are reading this guide in conjunction with the documentation listed in "Where to Go for Related Information.
What's in This Guide
This guide covers the following topics:
Chapter 1 "Command-Line Tools" Provides an overview of the command-line tools provided with Certificate Management System, including the ones that are not covered in this documentation.
Chapter 2 "Password Cache Utility" Describes how to use the tool for managing the single sign-on password cache.
Chapter 3 "Kill Process Tool" Describes how to use the tool for terminating CMS process if the server fails to respond to a start, restart, or stop commands.
Chapter 4 "PIN Generator Tool" Describes how to use the tool for generating unique PINs for your users and for populating their directory entries with PINs.
Chapter 5 "Extension Joiner Tool" Describes how to use the tool for joining MIME-64 encoded formats of certificate extensions to create a single blob.
Chapter 7 "ASCII to Binary Tool" Describes how to use the tool for converting ASCII data to its binary equivalent.
Chapter 8 "Binary to ASCII Tool" Describes how to use the tool for converting binary data to its ASCII equivalent.
Chapter 9 "Pretty Print Certificate Tool" Describes how to use the tool for printing or viewing the contents of a certificate stored as ASCII base-64 encoded data in a human-readable form.
Chapter 10 "Pretty Print CRL Tool" Describes how to use the tool for printing or viewing the contents of a CRL stored as ASCII base-64 encoded data in a human-readable form.
Chapter 11 "Certificate Database Tool" Describes how to use the tool for manipulating the certificate database.
Chapter 12 "Key Database Tool" Describes how to use the tool for manipulating the key database.
Chapter 13 "Netscape Signing Tool" Describes how to use the tool to associate a digital signature with any file, including CMS log files.
Chapter 14 "SSL Debugging Tool" Describes how to use the tool for testing and debugging purposes.
Chapter 15 "SSL Strength Tool" Describes how to use the tool for testing and debugging purposes.
Chapter 16 "Security Module Database Tool" Describes the Password Cache Utility and explains how to use it for managing the single sign-on password cache.
Conventions Used in This Guide
This guide uses the following conventions:The following conventions are used in this guide:
Monospaced fontThis typeface is used for any text that appears on the computer screen or text that you should type. It's also used for filenames, functions, and examples.
ItalicItalic type is used for emphasis, book titles, and glossary terms.
- Example: Server Root is the directory where the CMS binaries are kept.
Text within "quotation marks"Indicates cross-references to other topics within this guide.
- Example: This control depends on the access permissions the superadministrator has set up for you.
[ ]Square brackets enclose commands that are optional.
- Example: For more information, see "Issuing a Certificate to a New User" on page 154.
<>Angle brackets enclose variables or placeholders. When following examples, replace the angle brackets and their text with text that applies to your situation. For example, when path names appear in angle brackets, substitute the path names used on your computer.
- Example: PrettyPrintCert <input_file> [<output_file>]
- <input_file> specifies the path to the file that contains the base-64 encoded certificate.
- <output_file> specifies the path to the file to write the certificate. This argument is optional; if you don't specify an output file, the certificate information is written to the standard output.
/A forward slash is used to separate directories in a path. If you use the Windows NT operating system, you should replace / with \ in paths.
- Example: Using Netscape Communicator 4.04 or later, enter the URL for the administration server: http://<hostname>:<port_number>
Sidebar textSidebar text marks important information. Make sure you read the information before continuing with a task.
- Example: Except for the Security Module Database Tool, you can find all the other command-line utilities at this location: <server_root>/bin/cert/tools
Where to Go for Related Information
This section summarizes the documentation that ships with Certificate Management System, using these conventions:
<server_root> is the directory where the CMS binaries are kept (specified during installation).
The documentation set for Certificate Management System includes the following:<instance_id> is the ID for this instance of Certificate Management System (specified during installation).
Managing Servers with Netscape Console
For a complete list of all documentation that ships with Certificate Management System, including documentation for Directory Server, see Documentation Summary at: <server_root>/manual/index.html
iPlanet Certificate Management System Installation and Setup Guide
- Provides background information on basic cryptography concepts and the role of Netscape Console.
- For the HTML version, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/admin/help/contents.htm
iPlanet Certificate Management System Plug-ins Guide
- Describes how to plan for, install, and administer Certificate Management System. To access the installation and configuration information from within the CMS Installation Wizard or from the CMS window (within Netscape Console), click any help button.
- To view the HTML version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/setup_guide/contents.htm
- To view the PDF version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/pdf/cms42sp2setup.pdf
iPlanet Certificate Management System Command-Line Tools Guide (this guide)
- Provides detailed reference information on CMS plug-ins. To access this information from the CMS window within Netscape Console, click any help button.
- To view the HTML version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/plugin_guide/contents.htm
- To view the PDF version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/pdf/cms42sp2plugin.pdf
iPlanet Certificate Management System Customization Guide
- Provides detailed reference information on CMS tools.
- To view the HTML version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/tools_guide/contents.htm
- To view the PDF version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/pdf/cms42sp2tools.pdf
iPlanet Certificate Management System Agent's Guide
- Provides detailed reference information on customizing the HTML-based agent and end-entity interfaces.
- To view the HTML version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/custom_guide/contents.htm
- To view the PDF version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/pdf/cms42sp2custom.pdf
End-entity help (online only, not printed)
- Provides detailed reference information on CMS agent interfaces. To access this information from the Agent Services pages, click any help button.
- To view the HTML version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/<instance_id>/web/agent/manual/agent_guide/
contents.htm
- To view the PDF version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/manual/en/cert/pdf/cms42sp2agent.pdf
- Provides detailed reference information on CMS end-entity interfaces. To access this information from the end-entity pages, click any help button.
- To view the HTML version of this guide, open this file: <server_root>/<instance_id>/web/ee/manual/ee_guide/contents.htm
Do not change the default location of any of the HTML files; they are used for online help. You may move the PDF files to another location..
For the latest information about Certificate Management System, including current release notes, technical notes, and deployment information, check this site: http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals/cms.html
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Copyright © 2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Some preexisting portions Copyright © 2001 Netscape Communications Corp. All rights reserved.
Last Updated April 02, 2001