EssentialSSL Certificate Installation: F5 BigIP

May 25, 2018 in Load Balancer and SHA 1

Installing certificates from the certificate authority

For Essential SSL certificate, in additonal to your domain certificate you will be receiving 4 more files. These files must be imported in the following order:

  • Root AddTrustExternalCARoot.crt
  • Intermediate CA UTNAddTrustSGCCA.crt
  • Intermediate CA ComodoUTNSGCCA.crt
  • Intermediate CA EssentialSSLCA.crt

Or click to download the EssentialSSLCA files

  • After you obtain an x509 certificate from a certificate authority for the SSL Accelerator, you must copy it onto each BIG-IP Controller in the redundant configuration.
  • You can configure the accelerator with certificates using the Configuration utility or from the command line.


To install certificates using the Configuration utility

  • In the navigation pane, click Proxies. The Proxies screen opens.
  • On Proxies screen, click the Install SSL Certificate Request tab. The Install SSL Certificate screen opens.
  • In the Certfile Name box, type the fully qualified domain name of the server with the file extension .crt. If you generated a temporary certificate when you submitted a request to the certificate authority, you can select the name of the certificate from the drop down list. This allows you to overwrite the temporary certificate with the certificate from the certificate authority.
  • Paste the text of the certificate into the install SSL Certificate window. Make sure you include the BEGIN CERTIFICATE line and the END CERTIFICATE line.
  • Click the Write Certificate File button to install the certificate.


To install certificates from the certificate authority using the command line

  • Copy the certificate into the following directory on each BIG-IP Controller in a redundant system:

/config/bigconfig/ssl.crt/

Note: The certificate you receive should overwrite the temporary certificate generated by genkey or gencert.

  • If you used the genkey or gencert utilities to generate the request file, a copy of the corresponding key should already be in the following directory on the BIG-IP Controller:

/config/bigconfig/ssl.key/


To install the intermediate certificate using the command line:

  • please use the Intermediate CA certificate that came with your site certificate in the zip file. For positive ssl certificate, in additon to your domain certificate you will be receiving 4 more files.
  • For F5 Big IP Controller you should use the following three certificates:

Intermediate CA UTNAddTrustSGCCA.crt
Intermediate CA ComodoUTNSGCCA.crt
Intermediate CA EssentialSSLCA.crt

  • Copy the intermediate certificate (UTNAddTrustSGCCA.crt) into each BIG-IP Controller in a redundant system. Open the UTNAddTrustSGCCA.crt with a text editor.
  • Cut and paste the entire text of the certificate, including the -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and -----END CERTIFICATE----- lines.


Example:

'-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----'
and
'-----END CERTIFICATE-----'

  • Next, open the second intermediate certificate, ComodoUTNSGCCA.crt. Repeat the process and paste into the same document.
  • Finally open the Third intermediate certificate, EssentialSSLCA.crt.
  • Repeat the process and paste into the same document Your final doc should look something like this:


-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIEyDCCBDGgAwIBAgIEAgACmzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADBFQGEwJV
UzEYMBYGA1UEChMPR1RFIENvcnBvcmF0aW9uMRwwGgYDVQUgQ3liZXJU
.....
zs1x+3QCB9xfFScIUwd21LkG6cJ3UB7KybDCRoGAAK1EqlzWINlVqvaDj
vA2AOurM+5pX7XilNj1W6tHndMo0w8+xUengDA==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIEmTCCA4GgAwIBAgIQPToFJgm2LuWMNik4Y1ThJDANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADCB
lzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxCzAJBgNVBAgTAlVUMRcwFQYDVQQHEw5TYWx0IExha2Ug
.....
tIGG3cXyqHE+3adKtfr4bDs0mptYfU3U01tTI2tJOBahmJ+EXquuP67Of8gX5DKr
xNMvmpAxwpJTlu1yp/7E2jkpUWjtkI2Xjv5FGbc=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIE+DCCA+CgAwIBAgIQQImVRH5fsRnYZXNwL41k/DANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADCB
gTELMAkGA1UEBhMCR0IxGzAZBgNVBAgTEkdyZWF0ZXIgTWFuY2hlc3RlcjEQMA4G
.....
jVqP2KBBNaOGcwWu2Rl6Ossgr1GRo8xGTUdQxvvcFSxUcb/+V/uJrP/Qu49mPu/k
Ia+AR/+G2zkRyOZQzUVtWZbKVXZttY6w3gloAA==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

  • Save the file as 'intermediate-ca.crt'
  • Be careful not to include any leading or trailing whitespace before the beginning and ending hyphens.
  • Place the intermediate-ca.crt file in the directory /config/bigconfig/ssl.crt/


Note: The ssl.crt directory is used to store certificates and certificate authorities.

WARNING: In a redundant system

  • the keys and certificates must be in place on both controllers before you configure the SSL Accelerator.
  • You must do this manually; the configuration synchronization utilities do not perform this function.