How to Export a Certificate and Private Key in PKCS #12 Format

You can create a file in PKCS #12 format to export private keys and their associated X.509 certificate to other systems. Access to the file is protected by a password.

1. Find the certificate to export.

   % pktool list
   Found number certificates.
   1. (X.509 certificate)
   Label:  label-name
   ID: fingerprint that binds certificate to private key
   Subject: subject-DN
   Issuer:  distinguished-name
   Serial:  hex-serial-number
   
   2. ...

2. Export the keys and certificate.

   Use the keystore and label from the pktool list command. Provide a file name for the export file. If the name contains a space, surround the name with double quotes.

   % pktool export keystore=keystore outfile=outfile-name label=label-name

3. Protect the export file with a password.

   At the prompt, type the current password for the keystore. At this point, you create a password for the export file. The receiver must provide this password when importing the file.

   Enter pin for Sun Software PKCS#11 softtoken: Type PIN for token
   Enter password to use for accessing the PKCS12 file:Create PKCS #12 password

   ---

   Tip  -  Send the password separately from the export file. Best practice suggests that you provide the password out of band, such as during a telephone call.

   ---

In the following example, a user exports the private keys with their associated X.509 certificate into a standard PKCS #12 file. This file can be imported into other keystores. The PKCS #11 password protects the source keystore. The PKCS #12 password is used to protect private data in the PKCS #12 file. This password is required to import the file.

% pktool list
No.  Key Type  Key Len.  Key Label
----------------------------------------------------
Asymmetric public keys:
1    RSA                 My Cert
Certificates:
1    X.509 certificate
Label: My Cert
ID: d2:7e:20:04:a5:66:e6:31:90:d8:53:28:bc:ef:55:55:dc:a3:69:93
Subject: C=US, O=My Company, OU=Security Engineering Group, CN=MyCA
Issuer: C=US, O=My Company, OU=Security Engineering Group, CN=MyCA
Serial: 0x000001

% pktool export keystore=pkcs11 outfile=mydata.p12 label="My Cert"
Enter pin for Sun Software PKCS#11 softtoken: Type PIN for token
Enter password to use for accessing the PKCS12 file:Create PKCS #12 password

The user then telephones the recipient and provides the PKCS #12 password.