Running a Mini-CA
In Chapter 8, X.509 Certificates and PKI, we learned about Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) based on X.509 certificates. In this chapter, we will learn how to use the openssl ca
subcommand to run a mini-Certificate Authority (CA) that can issue certificates for internal usage in an organization. A mini-CA can be useful in organizations for establishing internal PKI, gaining control of internally used certificates, and saving costs on ordering certificates from commercial CAs. The usage of a mini-CA will be illustrated by command-line examples.
We are going to cover the following topics in this chapter:
- Understanding the
openssl ca
subcommand - Generating a root CA certificate
- Generating an intermediate CA certificate
- Generating a certificate for a web server
- Generating a certificate for a web and email client
- Revoking certificates and generating CRLs
- Providing certificate revocation status via OCSP