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<TITLE>SSL Certificates - User help</TITLE>
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<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="www@ms.inka.de">
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<h1>SSL Certificates</H1>
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<H2>What are they and how to create them here</H2>
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Most web traffic is sent unencrypted. That is, anyone with
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access to the right tools can view most of the traffic that travels the Web.
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In some circumstances this can be undesirable, such as in credit card and
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Where greater web data security is needed, the <B>S</B>ecure <B>S</B>ocket
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<B>L</B>ayer (SSL) is used to encrypt the data stream between the server
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and the client (usually a web browser).
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If it is true that SSL securely encrypts data travelling over the Internet,
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then why is a certificate necessary?
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The simple answer is that it is NOT!
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However, certificates are still useful:
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A certificate, signed by a trusted <I>Certificate Authority</I> (CA), is
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designed to ensure that the certificate holder is really who they claim to be. Without a trusted, signed certificate, your data may still
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be encrypted but you can't be sure who you are communicating with.
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If you need a certificate then keep reading and find out more below.
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<h2>Specifications for certificate requests</h2>
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<a name="countryName" >
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<h3>Country Code (ISO designation of the country)</h3></a>
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Enter the ISO short-name (2 letter) country ID here.
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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Enter two uppercase letters. Special characters (e.g. umlauts),
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digits and other special characters are disallowed and will result in an error message.
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<dt><h4> Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' AU ' for Australia
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<dt> ' US ' for U.S.A.
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<a name="stateOrProvinceName" ><h3>State or Province</h3></a>
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Full official name of the region, state or province.
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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Alphanumeric characters (letters, country-specific
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letters and digits). Some additional special characters ('.', ' _ ', ' - '
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and the blank) are allowed. NB: semicolon and some others are disallowed.
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' New South Wales '
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<dt> ' Germany; Bathe ' results in error message because of semicolon
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<a name="localityName" ><h3>City or Locality(LN)</h3></a>
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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Alphanumeric characters (letters, country-specific
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letters and digits) and some special characters ('.', ' _ ', ' - '
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and the blank) are allowed (NB: semicolon and some others are disallowed).
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' Washington D.C. '
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<dt> ' Frankfurt a.d. Or '
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<dt> ' Frankfurt/Oder ' results in error message because of diagonal stroke
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<a name="organizationName" ><h3>Name of Organisation</h3></a>
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Name of the organisation (e.g. company, national authority,
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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Alphanumeric characters (letters, country-specific
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letters and digits) and certain special characters ('.', ' _ ', ' - '
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and the blank) are allowed (NB: semicolon and some others are disallowed).
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' Microshaft Inc. ' is permitted
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<dt> ' Karneval /Stimmungsverein ' results in error message because of
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<a name="organizationalUnitName" ><h3>Department or Organisational Unit</h3></a>
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<h4>Valid inputs</h4>
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Alphanumeric characters (letters, country-specific
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letters and digits) and certain special characters ('.', ' _ ', ' - '
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and the blank) are allowed (NB: semicolon and some others are disallowed).
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' IT Department '
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<dt> ' Network Services Division '
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<dt> ' information & communication ' results in error
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message because of & (Ampersand) <dt> ' Abbott 08/15 '
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results in error message because of diagonal stroke
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<a name="commonName" ><h3>Common Name</h3></a>
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If you are registering a certificate for a server, then the <B>Common
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Name</B> MUST be the fully qualified domain name of that server.
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If the certificate is for electronic mail or client identity, the
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<B>Common Name</B> is usually the
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first name and surname of a person (your own name!).
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<h4>Valid inputs</h4>
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Alphanumeric characters (letters, country-specific
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letters and digits) and certain special characters ('.', ' _ ', ' - '
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and the blank) are allowed (NB: semicolon and some others are disallowed).
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' www.secure.site.com' is a valid name for a server certificate.
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<dt> ' Elvis Presley ' is a valid name for a client certificate.
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<dt> ' Elvis, the large one ' results in error message because of the
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comma (irrespective of the bad grammar; -)
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<a name="initials" ><h2>Initials</h2></a>
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If your organization commonly uses a name contraction (for example, MS
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instead of Microsoft), then enter this here please. This may also be
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the well known initials of a person - e.g. <I>HRH</I> or <I>FUBAR</I>
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<h4>Valid inputs</h4>
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Enter up to a maximum of five (5) alphanumeric characters (letters,
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country-specific letters and digits).
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' KL ' is a valid specification
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<dt> ' a-dG ' results in error message because of the hyphen
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<a name="emailAddress" ><h3>E-mail Address</h3></a>
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<B>NB:</B> You MUST enter a valid E-Mail address.
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This certificate request will fail unless a valid email address is entered.
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The E-Mail address is checked for plausibility before the request is processed.
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<h4>Valid inputs</h4>
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All characters which are likely to be found in a valid email address
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This includes are letters
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and special special characters ('@', '. ', ' = ', ' / ', ' - ', ' _ '
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and the blank), but excluding country-specific characters such as umlaut.
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' michael@badexaple.com.au ' Won't work - it's not a registered domain name
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<dt> ' ben.venudo@to.no.where ' results in error message because of invalid Internet domain
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<a name="phone" ><h3> Telephone and FAX Numbers</h3></a>
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For more exact identification, the specification
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of telephone and FAX numbers is sometimes helpful. This information
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is <b>not required</B>, and <B>even if entered here, it will not be
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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Plus sign and numbers only. The numbers must be entered in standard
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international telephone number format (or an error message will be generated).
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<dt> +[CountryCode] [AreaCode] [LocalNumber]
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The <I>CountryCode</I> may consist only of 2 digits.
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' +49 7219 6506 ' is valid
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<dt> ' +41 7219/9650 ' is invalid because of diagonal stroke
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<a name="contactPerson" ><h3>Contact Person</h3></a>
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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The name of a contact person is sometimes helpful.
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Alphanumeric characters (letters, country-specific letters and digits) and
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some special characters ('.', ' _ ', ' - ' and the blank) are allowed.
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<dt><h4>Examples:</h4><P>
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<dt> ' Michael Stroeder ' is a valid entry
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<dt> ' Bernie, at reception ' is invalid because of the comma
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<a name="days" ><h3>Valid Number Of Days</h3></a>
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Enter the number of days from <b>now</b>, until the time
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this certificate will expire (e.g. valid for one year is 365 days!).
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The actual validity period is usually fixed by the Certification Authority
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as a matter of Policy </a>.
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<a name="challenge" ><h3>Challenge Password</h3></a>
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This is the <I>Challenge Secret</I> or <I>Initial Master Secret</I> password.
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This is a password, which you have choose to use for communication with
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with the certification body. This is not always required but
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it does provide additional protection.
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<a name="userpassword" ><h3>User Password</h3></a>
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This is an optional password which you use to manage your certificate.
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This password protects against non-authorized recall of the certificate
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by third parties. This password is not displayed during input. In order to
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check for typing errors, the password must be input twice.
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<a name="SPKAC" ><h3>RSA Key length</h3></a>
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Enter the length of the RSA code. The RSA code is NOT the same as the
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certificate: The RSA key is used by some browsers when transmitting a
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certificate request to the server.
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It is usually advisable to select the longest key available (usually 1024 bits).
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The actual key length may depend on the browser version.
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Because of U.S. regulations, some versions of
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Netscape navigator can only use RSA code with a maximum of 512 bits.
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Please visit these links for more information:
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www.fortify.net <a href="http://babel.altavista.com/translate.dyn?lp=de_en&doit=done&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fortify.net" > is worthwhile anyhow, </a> and also <a href="ftp://ftp.replay.com/pub/crypto/browsers/" >
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<h4>Valid inputs:</h4>
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Enter the key length (number of bits) used by the browser.
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For RSA code, possible values are 512 bits, 768 bits and 1024 bits.
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Some types of certificates have a fixed minimum length.
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Please consult the local CA Policy documents for further information</a>.
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