Creating a syslog client Certificate Signing Request
A certificate signing request (CSR) is submitted to a Certificate Authority (CA) to obtain a digitally signed certificate. When creating a CSR, you uniquely identify the user or entity that will use the requested certificate. Safeguard for Privileged Passwords allows you to upload or enroll a syslog client certificate using CSRs. Once uploaded or enrolled, the syslog client certificate is added to the syslog client certificate store allowing you to assign it to one or more Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Appliances.
To create a CSR for syslog
- Go to the following selection, based on your client:
- web client: Navigate to Certificates | Syslog Client Certificate.
- desktop client: Navigate to Administrative Tools | Settings | Certificates | Syslog Client Certificate.
- Click Add Certificate and select Create Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
- In the Certificate Signing Request dialog, enter the following information:
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Subject (Distinguished Name): Enter the distinguished name of the person or entity to whom the certificate is being issued in the proper format like: cn=common name,ou=organizational unit,o=organization. Using the format example, cn=sam doe,ou=marketing,o=mycompany. Maximum length is 500 characters.
- Click Use Distinguished Name Creator to create the distinguished name based on your entries in Fully Qualified Domain Name (required), Department, Organization, City/Locality, State/County/Region, and Country.
- Subject Alternate Names (DNS): Optionally, enter the Data Source Name (DNS) name of the server that will be protected by this certificate. For example, this might be the DNS names of all of the appliances in the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords cluster.
If the DNS name changes, you must generate a new certificate.
- Subject Alternate Names (IP Address): Optionally, enter the IP addresses of the server that will be protected by this certificate. For example, this might be the IP addresses of all the appliances in the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords cluster.
If the IP address changes, you must generate a new certificate.
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Key Size: Select the bit length of the private key pair. The bit length determines the security level of the SSL certificate. A larger key size is more secure but encryption is slower.
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Click OK to save your selections and enroll the certificate.
Installing a syslog client certificate
Trusted CA Certificates
It is the responsibility of the Appliance Administrator to add or remove trusted root certificates to the Safeguard for Privileged Passwords Appliance. If you are going to verify the server certificate, then you do need a certificate from the server certificates chain of trust in Trusted Certificates.
Examples:
- If you uploaded a syslog client certificate with a private key, you may need to upload the certificate's root CA to the list of trusted certificates. For more information, see Syslog Client Certificate.
- An SSL/TLS certificate must be trusted to resolve the chain of authority. For an SSL/TSL certificate, when Safeguard for Privileged Passwords connects to an asset that has the Verify SSL Certificate option enabled, the signing authority of the certificate presented by the asset is compared to the certificates in the trusted certificate store. For more information, see Verify SSL Certificate.
Go to the following:
- web client: Navigate to Certificates | Trusted CA Certificates.
- desktop client: Navigate to Settings | Certificates | Trusted Certificates.
Select a certificate to display the following information for the user-supplied certificates added to the trusted certificate store.
Table 196: Trusted CA certificates: Properties
Subject |
The name of the subject (such as user, program, computer, service or other entity) assigned to the certificate when it was requested. |
Issued By |
The name of the certificate authority (CA) that issued the certificate. |
Certificate Type |
Trusted |
Thumbprint |
A unique hash value that identifies the certificate. |
Invalid Before |
A "start" date and time that must be met before a certificate can be used. |
Expiration Date |
The date and time when the certificate expires and can no longer be used. |
Toolbar options follow.
Table 197: Trusted Certificates: Toolbar
Upload New Trusted CA Certificate |
Add a trusted certificate. |
Delete Selected |
Delete the selected certificate. |
Refresh |
Update the list of certificates. |
Adding a trusted certificate
Prior to adding an asset that uses SSL server certificate validation, add the certificate's root CA and any intermediate CAs to the Trusted Certificates store in Safeguard for Privileged Passwords. For more information, see Verify SSL Certificate.
You may need to add the syslog server certificate if it is signed by the same CA.
If a certificate upload fails, the audit log reflects: TrustedCertificateUploadFailed or ServerCertificateUploadFailed.
To add a trusted certificate
- Go to the following:
- web client: Navigate to Certificates | Trusted CA Certificates.
- desktop client: Navigate to Administrative Tools | Settings | Certificates | Trusted Certificates.
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Click Upload New Trusted CA Certificate from the details toolbar.
- Browse and select the certificate file then click Open.
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On the dialog box, enter the case sensitive passphrase to import the certificate. If the certificate does not have a private key passphrase, leave the field empty and click OK.