Install a commercial SSL certificate ??

[nick20]

I read one Web address about installing SSL certificate at wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=SSL_Certificate_Problems referred by Kevin.

This works great for installing self-signed certifcate by following the said instruction:
Clean up SSL Certificate and recreate a new self-signed cert:----
as root:
rm -rf /opt/zimbra/ssl
mkdir /opt/zimbra/ssl
chown zimbra:zimbra /opt/zimbra/ssl

su - zimbra
(all one line here: )

keytool -delete -alias my_ca -keystore /opt/zimbra/java/jre/lib/security/cacerts -storepass changeit
(again, all one line: )
keytool -delete -alias tomcat -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra

zmcreateca
zmcreatecert
zmcertinstall mailbox ssl/ssl/server/tomcat.crt
zmcertinstall mta ssl/ssl/server/server.crt ss/ssl/server/server.key


However, when I did the following instruction as suggested to install a commerical SSL certificate, I experienced errors.
Instruction:
To Install a commerical SSL certificate first remove the self signed cert:
su - zimbra
keytool -delete -alias tomcat -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra
keytool -delete -alias my_ca -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra

then using your new certificate and key run:
zmcertinstall mailbox ssl/ssl/server/commercial.crt
zmcertinstall mta ssl/ssl/server/commercial.crt ssl/ssl/server/commercial.key

I have 2 questions:
1) An error occurred when I tried to execute " keytool -delete -alias my_ca -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra " (without quotes). Why is this command different from the one being used for the self-signed certificate ?

2) The instruction does not tell us how to generate a commerical.csr that is required by a commercial CA. I recall I used openssl to generate a commercial.csr in the past. Now with Zimbra, do we need to run zmcreateca once to get the server.csr to be used for applying a commerical.crt ? (note: I tried to use the server.csr generated by zmcreateca to get a free 1-month certificate at geotrust Web site. When I did the zmcertinstall mailbox ... , it generated an error.) Also, how can I set the password for the private key ?

Please advise.

Thanks,
nick20

[marcmac]

Originally Posted by nick20

I have 2 questions:
1) An error occurred when I tried to execute " keytool -delete -alias my_ca -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra " (without quotes). Why is this command different from the one being used for the self-signed certificate ?

What error occurred? The command is the same, you just have to tell it which cert file.

2) The instruction does not tell us how to generate a commerical.csr that is required by a commercial CA. I recall I used openssl to generate a commercial.csr in the past. Now with Zimbra, do we need to run zmcreateca once to get the server.csr to be used for applying a commerical.crt ? (note: I tried to use the server.csr generated by zmcreateca to get a free 1-month certificate at geotrust Web site. When I did the zmcertinstall mailbox ... , it generated an error.) Also, how can I set the password for the private key ?

Please advise.

Thanks,
nick20

That info should be available from your cert supplier.

[nick20]

I executed the command:

zimbra@webmail:~> keytool -delete -alias my_ca -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra

Keytool error: java.lang.Exception: Alias my_ca does not exist


This is the error. What do you think ?

Also, the commercial.csr (Certificate Signing Request) is not available from the cert supplier. In the past, I generated using openssl. Now, this zimbra system uses keytool that I have never used before. Could you please give me a clue how to generate the CSR for signing with my cert supplier to get a commercial digital SSL certificate ?

- nick20

[marcmac]

that means that it's already been deleted.

As for your commercial cert, you really need to get the info from your cert supplier - they may want different things, so I don't feel qualified to tell you what to give them.

[nick20]

Thanks for marcmac's encouraging statement !

I did a google search and found geotrust instruction on how to generate CSR.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.geotrusteurope.com/suppor...rta_tomcat.htm

Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for an SSL Certificate from GeoTrust
Jakarta-Tomcat

Follow these instructions to generate a CSR for your Web site. When you have completed this process, you will have a CSR ready to submit to GeoTrust in order to be generated into a SSL Security Certificate.

If you are not using JDK 1.4 or higher, you must download and install "Java Secure Socket Extensions" JSSE.

1. Generate a private key with the following command:

$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -genkey -alias tomcat -keyalg RSA -keystore /path/to/domainname.kdb

You will be prompted for a password. Tomcat uses a default password of "changeit". If you use a different password, you will need to specify a custom password in the server.xml configuration file.

The next field that you will be prompted for is "What is your first and last name?" At this prompt, you must specify the common name (FQDN) of your web site.

You will then be prompted for your organizational unit, organization, etc.

.2. Generate the Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -certreq -alias tomcat -keystore /path/to/keystore.kdb -file filename.csr

You will not be prompted for the common name, organization, etc. The keytool will use the values that you specify when generating the private key.

3. Now go to GeoTrust, select your certificate product and click the relevant Order Now button. Make sure that you have your CSR file handy - you will need this during the enrollment process. Go through steps for purchasing a certificate and paste your certificate request in block when prompted
Be sure to include -----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- and -----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

4. Make a backup of the keystore.kdb key database. GeoTrust is not responsible if your server crashes and this file is lost.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After obtaining a CSR and then the crt file from geotrust, I did successfully on the following to install a commercial SSL certificate:

su - zimbra
keytool -delete -alias tomcat -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra
keytool -delete -alias my_ca -keystore /opt/zimbra/tomcat/conf/keystore -storepass zimbra

then using your new certificate and key run:
zmcertinstall mailbox ssl/ssl/server/commercial.crt

EXCEPT:
zmcertinstall mta ssl/ssl/server/commercial.crt ssl/ssl/server/commercial.key

It's because I don't have a commercial.key file. I assume that it should have been generated and encoded in the domainname.kdb (keystore file). Is there a way to extract the commercial.key file from the keystore file ? If not, what will be an alternative way to generate the private key file ?

- nick20