Question

Virtual Center Server & Certificates

Asked by: PeteLong

Ive been banging my head with this all day - I admit defeat :(

I understand that not to error I need to trust the root CA then that the certificate on the VCenter's common name needs to match its URL. I need to know how to do this with OpenSSL on he Virtual Center Server itself (NOT with Windows Certificate Services)

Ive read http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi_vcserver_certificates.pdf and a thousand other blogs, helpfiles - websites and still cannot make it work, I'm either thick, or missing something blatantly obvious

what Ive done-------------------

Install open SSL


In /bin folder create a folder called newcerts
Copy the index.txt and serial files from \bin\pem\democa to \bin
Open openssl.cnf with notepad

Change settings to




[ CA_default ]

dir            = .                  # Where everything is kept

private_key      = $dir/rui.key            # The private key

certificate      = $dir/myroot.crt       # The CA certificate


1. Open a command prompt
cd c:\openssl\bin\

2. Create a Local Root CA

openssl req -new -x509 -extensions v3_ca -keyout rui.key -out myroot.crt -days 3650 -config openssl.cnf
Enter passphrase
Answer Questions
Set common name to FQDN

3. Create a request file for The Virtial Center Server to get a Web Certficate from your Root CA
openssl req -new -nodes -out rui.csr -config openssl.cnf

4. Process the request file and generate a certificate
openssl ca -out rui.crt -config openssl.cnf -infiles rui.csr

5. Now create a .pfx file.
openssl pkcs12 -export -in rui.crt -inkey rui.key -out rui.pfx


error

C:\OpenSSL\bin>openssl pkcs12 -export -in rui.crt -inkey rui.key -out rui.pfx
Loading 'screen' into random state - done
Enter pass phrase for rui.key:
No certificate matches private key

Im getting the key and the cert dont match but Ive only got one key?

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Asked On
2008-06-05 at 13:05:18ID23461744
Tags

VMware

,

Virtual Center 2.5

,

2.5

,

OpenSSL

Topics

VMware

,

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) & HTTPS

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
8

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Answers

 

by: bhanukir7Posted on 2008-06-07 at 06:51:53ID: 21735455

Hi

You have a tough one up. I am currently testing it on win2003 and will update you once i am done.

One thing that i see in your issue is the likely possiblity of the password entered for rui.key is incorrect. Check that out

bhanu

 

by: bhanukir7Posted on 2008-06-07 at 14:06:51ID: 21736796

Hi

Pete while i was working on the syntax used by you i think the error was in the rui.crt word. remember you have mentioned in the first time when creating a rui.

"openssl req -new -x509 -extensions v3_ca -keyout rui.key -out myroot.crt -days 3650 -config openssl.cnf"

you have mentioned the file name as myroot.crt and when trying to create new .pfx file

"openssl pkcs12 -export -in rui.crt -inkey rui.key -out rui.pfx"

you need to change the rui.crt to myroot.crt and that will work for you.

bhanu

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2008-06-08 at 12:30:45ID: 21739288

oh hang on a a tick? I will give that a test -  fingers crossed :)

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2008-06-08 at 13:15:22ID: 21739395

That didnt error :) Ill try it on the Vcenter server hang on....

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2008-06-08 at 13:41:20ID: 21739490

Nope - If I use the rui.key, rui.crt and rui.pfx produced by ^^^ That The Virtual Center service will not start

I'm struggling to see why this is so difficult - All I want to do is set up a CA and issue myself a certificate :(

anyway

So just So I can get this straight in m own mind


First create a Root CA (this creates a key and a certificate Ill call them 1.crt and 1.key)
Send a request to the Root CA (this creates a csr Ill call it 2.csr)
Process the request (produced from 2.csr  > this outputs a certificate Ill call it 2.crt)
Create a PFX file (Ive no idea what this does - produced with 1.key and 2.crt which output's 2.pfx

So the web server would need 2.crt + 2.pfx and 1.key is that correct?

If that is correct why arnt the three files working :(

Thanks for your help so far its much appreciated

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2008-06-10 at 07:20:05ID: 21751484

Fixed it :)

In a round about way -  the VMware documentation is pretty pants :(
Firstly to avoid confusion I called the CA certificate and key caroot.key and caroot.crt (change the openssl.cnf file accordingly)
Then I needed to generate a second key with the original request

-keyout rui.key

Then when the pfx file is created use the second key

Copy all the files to the vcenters SSL directory then bounce the server - Job done - man that was hard going! and not at all documented in any one place :(

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2008-06-10 at 07:21:06ID: 31464515

Pointed me down the right track - very gratefull for this experts response

 

by: bhanukir7Posted on 2008-06-10 at 07:27:59ID: 21751585

Hi

the tough part for me was to get the OpenSSL install and get it working i had to install perl first and then go ahead with the open ssl and then only i could test the creation of the files. Well in process of answering  your question i had learnt few more things about openSSL.

good amount of work going into getting the issue resolved.

bhanu

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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