Uwe Gradenegger - Page 44 - Passionate about PKI

Configure Path Length Constraint for Certificates Issued by a Certification Authority

For stronger control over the certificates that can be issued by a certification authority, a path length constraint can be set up so that certification authorities above a defined hierarchy level are no longer able to issue subordinate certification authority certificates

For an explanation of how the path length constraint works, see the article "Basics: Path Length Constraint"..

Configuring a Certificate Template for Remote Desktop (RDP) Certificates

To use Remote Desktop certificates, it is necessary to configure an appropriate certificate template.

If a certification authority certificate has been revoked, a revocation list is no longer issued for the certification authority certificate

Assume the following scenario:

A certification authority has multiple certification authority certificates.
More than one certificate authority certificate uses the same private key because, for example, the certificate authority certificate was renewed with the same key pair.
If one of these certification authority certificates is revoked, the certification authority will also no longer issue revocation lists for the other certification authority certificates that use the same key.

Restoring a certification authority from backup

The following describes how to restore a certification authority from backup. In addition to the disaster case, this procedure is also part of the Migration of a certification authority to a new server.

Installing the role files for the certification authority

Since Windows Server 2008, the installation of the Certification Authority role consists of two steps:

Installing the role files. This step is described below.
Configuration of the Certification Authority role.

Restoration of a Certification Authority Certificate with Hardware Security Module (HSM)

The following describes how to restore a certificate authority certificate with software key.

Restoring the certification authority certificate may be necessary for the following reasons:

Restoration of a certification authority certificate with software key

The following describes how to restore a certificate authority certificate with software key.

Restoring the certification authority certificate may be necessary for the following reasons:

What impact does the expiration of one of the Certification Authority certificates have on the Certification Authority?

Certification authority certificates have a defined start and end date, so it is inevitable during the lifecycle of a certification authority that certification authority certificates will expire.

The following describes the impact of an expiring Certification Authority certificate on the Certification Authority.

Certificate request fails with error message "0x800b0101 (-2146762495 CERT_E_EXPIRED)".

Assume the following scenario:

A user requests a certificate from an Active Directory integrated certification authority (Enterprise Certification Authority)
The certificate request fails with the following error message.

The Certificate Authority service does not start and throws the error message "The data is invalid. 0x8007000d (WIN32: 13 ERROR_INVALID_DATA)."

Assume the following scenario:

A certification authority is implemented in the network.
The certification authority service does not start.
When trying to start the Certification Authority service, you get the following error message:

The data is invalid. 0xd (WIN32: 13 ERROR_INVALID_DATA)

Removing old certification authority certificates from the configuration of a certification authority

During the lifetime of a certification authority, certification authority certificates are renewed according to the planning for their life cycle. A new key pair can optionally be used here. The previous certification authority certificates expire or are revoked.

Expired certificate authority certificates can become a problem under certain circumstances if, for example, the associated private keys are stored on old hardware security modules (HSM) and these can only be migrated to new hardware with great difficulty.

In such a case, it may be useful to remove old certification authority certificates from the certification authority configuration.

Have certificate holders automatically renew all certificates issued for a certificate template

When operating a certification authority, it may be necessary to renew all issued certificates for a specific certificate template, for example due to major configuration changes or a change of the issuing certification authority. The following describes a mechanism with which this can be achieved automatically.

Create a backup of a certification authority

Professional operation of a Certification Authority also includes the regular creation of backups.

The following describes which components need to be backed up and the associated procedure.