Generate a Request for an SSL Certificate
The SSL tab of the VTS Internet Client/Server Setup dialog enables you to request new SSL certificates for your VTS/IS. The instructions below have been provided to assist you in doing so.
1. Run VTS. The VAM opens.
2. Click the Internet Client button. The VTS Internet Client/Server Setup dialog opens.
3. Click the SSL Certificate tab. The dialog appears as shown.
4. Enter the host and domain name in the Host + Domain Name field. The name you supply must exactly match the host + domain name supplied in the URL used to access the VTS/IS:
myserver.trihedral.com
"myserver.trihedral.com" is the host + domain name, "myserver" being the host, and "trihedral.com" being the domain name.
5. Enter the name of your organization in the Organization field.
6. Enter the organizational unit in the Org Unit field (e.g. Online Data).
7. Enter the city in which your organization is located in the City/Locality field (e.g. Toronto).
8. Enter the province or state in which your organization is located in the State/Province field.
9. Enter the two-letter country code in which your organization is located in the Country Code field (e.g. CA (Canada), GB (Great Britain), US (United States)).
10. Select the cipher you wish to use for cryptography from the Cipher drop-down list. Note that there is normally only one cipher ("Microsoft RSA SChannel Cryptographic Provider (RSA/SChannel)") available for selection, unless you have installed a custom cryptographic package. Once all fields have been entered, the Generate Request button becomes enabled.
11. Click the Generate Request button. VTS compiles the data you've entered and displays the dialog shown below.
12. Open the text editor of your choice (Notepad, UltraEdit), or paste (Ctrl + V) the clipboard contents into your CA's online form (if available).
13. Select Edit | Paste (or press Ctrl + V) to paste the certificate request into your text editor. The pasted request begins with "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----", and ends with "-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----".
14. Save the text file.
15. Send the text file to your Certificate Authority (such as VeriSign).
It is not essential to perform the certificate request on the same PC for which the request is being made. You can request a certificate for any PC; however, the CA's reply must be processed into the store of the PC on which the request was made.
Note: When VTS generates the certificate request, a matching public/private key pair is generated. The public key is encoded into the certificate request and is sent to the CA. The private key is placed in a secure, encrypted key store. If you do not take a backup of your private key, a system restore operation or catastrophic computer failure will cause loss of the private key. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you use the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to backup the certificate request and private key. Once you receive your SSL certificate and subsequently process it, you should again do a backup using MMC.
Note for Windows Vista: On this operating system only, there is one additional step: The SSL certificate will be generated in the certificate store for the currently logged in user. After processing the certificate reply, the certificate (and its private key) must be exported from the user's certificate store and imported into the local computer's certificate store using the Microsoft Management Console. This action requires administrative rights. For further information on importing and exporting certificates, please refer to Microsoft’s Website: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows