1. SSL Setup Guide
  2. Obtaining the Identity Store
  3. Export Private Key as Certificate

3.4 Export Private Key as Certificate

This topic provides the information to export private key as certificate.

keytool -export -v -alias <alias_name> -file <export_certificate_file_name_with_location.cer> 
-keystore <keystore_name.jks> > -keypass <Private key Password> -storepass <Store Password>

Example 3-1 

keytool -export -v -alias OBREMOCert -file AdminOBREMOCert.cer -keystore AdminOBREMOKeyStore.jks -keypass Oracle123 -storepass
        Oracle123

If successful, the following message is displayed.

Certificate stored in file < AdminOBVAMCert.cer>

Obtain Trusted Certificate from CA

The processes of obtaining a trusted certificate vary from one CA to another. The CA might perform additional offline verification. Consult the CA issuing the certificate for details on the process to be followed for submission of the CSR and for obtaining the certificate.

Import Certificate into Identity Store

Store the certificate obtained from the CA in the previous step, in a file, preferably in PEM format. Other formats like the p7b file format would require conversion to the PEM format. Details on performing the conversion are not listed here. Refer to the Oracle WebLogic Server documentation on Securing Oracle WebLogic Server for details on converting a Microsoft p7b file to the PEM format.

The command to be executed for importing a certificate into the identity store depend on whether the trust store chosen (refer to Choose the Identity and Trust Stores section). It is highly recommended to verify the trust path when importing a certificate into the identity store. The commands provided below assume the use of the Java Standard Trust store.

Import the Intermediate CA Certificate

Most Certificate Authorities do not use the root CA certificates to issue identity certificates for use by customers. Instead, Intermediate CAs issue identity certificates in response to the submitted CSRs.

Ifthe Intermediate CA certificate is absent in the Java Standard Trust store, the trust path for the certificate will be incomplete for the certificate, resulting in warnings issued by Weblogic Server during runtime. To avoid this, the intermediate CA certificate should be imported into the identity keystore. Although the intermediate CA certificate can be imported into the Java Standard Trust store, this is not recommended unless the intermediate CA can be trusted.

The following command should be executed to import the intermediate CA certificate into the keystore.

keytool-importcert -alias alias  -filecert_file  -trustcacerts-keystorekeystore
In the above command:
  1. aliasis used to identify the public and private key pair. Specify the alias of the key pair used to create the CSR in the earlier step.
  2. cert_fileis the location of the file containing the intermediate CA certificate in a PKCS#7 format (PEM or DER file).
  3. keystoreis the location of the keystore containing the public and private key pair.

Note:

The trustcacerts flag is used to consider other certificates (higher intermediaries and the root CA) in the chain of trust. If no chain of trust is established during verification, the certificate will be displayed and one would be prompted to verify it. It is recommended that due diligence be observed, when the prompt is displayed to verify a certificate when a chain of trust is absent.

The sample execution command is listed as follows:

D:\Oracle\weblogic11g\jrockit_160_05_R27.6.2-20\bin>keytool - importcert -alias verisigntrialintermediateca -file
D:\keystores\VerisignIntermediateCA.cer -trustcacerts -keystore D:\keystoreworkarea\AdminOBVAMKeyStore.jks
Enter keystore password:<Enter the password used to access the keystore>
Certificate was added to keystore
Import the Identity Certificate

The following command should be executed to import the identity certificate into the keystore.

keytool -importcert -alias alias -file cert_file -trustcacerts -keystore
keystore
In the above command:
  1. aliasis used to identify the public and private key pair. Specify the alias of the key pair used to create the CSR in the earlier step.
  2. cert_fileis the location of the file containing the PKCS#7 formatted reply from the CA, containing the signed certificate.
  3. keystoreis the location of the keystore containing the public and private key pair.

Thetrustcacerts flag is used to consider other certificates (intermediate CAs and the root CA) in the chain of trust. If no chain of trust is established during verification, the certificate will be displayed and one would be prompted to verify it. It is recommended that due diligence be observed, when the prompt is displayed to verify a certificate when a chain of trust is absent.

The sample execution command is listed as follows:

D:\Oracle\weblogic11g\jrockit_160_05_R27.6.2-20\bin>keytool - importcert -alias cvrhp0729 -file
D:\keystores\cvrhp0729.cer - trustcacerts -keystore
D:\keystoreworkarea\AdminOBVAMKeyStore.jks
Enter keystore password: <Enter the password used to access the keystore>
Enter key password for <cvrhp0729>: <Enter the password used to access the private key>
Certificate reply was installed in keystore

The previous set of commands assumed the presence of the appropriate root CA certificate (in the chain of trust) in the Java Standard Trust store, i.e. in the cacerts file. If the CA issuing the identity certificate (for the WebLogic Server) does not have the root CA certificate in the Java Standard Trust store, one can opt to import the root CA certificate into cacerts, or into the identity store, depending on factors including trustworthiness of the CA, necessity of transporting the trust store across machine, among others.

Parent topic: Obtaining the Identity Store