A CSR is a file containing your certificate application information, including your Public Key.
Generate your CSR and then copy and paste the CSR file into the web form in the enrollment process:
Generate keys and certificate:
To generate a pair of private key and public Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for a webserver, 'server', use the following command :
openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout myserver.key -out server.csr
This creates a two files.
In particular, be sure to backup the private key, as there is no means to recover it should it be lost. The private key is used as input in the command to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
You will now be asked to enter details to be entered into your CSR.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
For some fields there will be a default value, If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]: GB
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]: Yorks
Locality Name (eg, city) []: York
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]: MyCompany Ltd
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []: IT
Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []: mysubdomain.mydomain.com
Email Address []:
Please enter the following 'extra' attributes to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:
An optional company name []:
openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout myserver.key -out server.csr -subj '/C=GB/ST=Yorks/L=York/O=MyCompany Ltd./OU=IT/CN=mysubdomain.mydomain.com'
Note: If the '-nodes' is entered the key will not be encrypted with a DES pass phrase.
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