Chapter 4. Managing externally signed certificates for IdM users, hosts, and services


Administrators use the Identity Management (IdM) command-line interface (CLI) and IdM Web UI to associate externally signed certificates with internal accounts. This integration allows users, hosts, and services to authenticate using credentials issued by third-party or corporate Certificate Authorities.

The ipa command-line tools enable administrators to attach specific external certificates to IdM entities. Commands such as ipa user-add-cert accept Base64-encoded strings, linking the external credential directly to the specified user, host, or service account.

Prerequisites

  • You have obtained the ticket-granting ticket of an administrative user.

Procedure

  1. To add a certificate to an IdM user, enter:

    $ ipa user-add-cert user --certificate=MIQTPrajQAwg...
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
  2. Specify the following information:

    • The name of the user
    • The Base64-encoded DER certificate

      Note

      Instead of copying and pasting the certificate contents into the command line, you can convert the certificate to the DER format and then re-encode it to Base64. For example, to add the user_cert.pem certificate to user, enter:

      $ ipa user-add-cert user --certificate="$(openssl x509 -outform der -in user_cert.pem | base64 -w 0)"
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    You can run the ipa user-add-cert command interactively by executing it without adding any options.

    • To add a certificate to an IdM host, enter: ipa host-add-cert
    • To add a certificate to an IdM service, enter: ipa service-add-cert

The IdM Web UI offers a graphical interface for uploading external certificates. Administrators navigate to the target entity’s profile page and paste the PEM or Base64-encoded certificate data directly into the configuration field to associate it.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in to the Identity Management (IdM) Web UI as an administrative user.

Procedure

  1. Open the Identity tab, and select the Users, Hosts, or Services subtab.
  2. Click the name of the user, host, or service to open its configuration page.
  3. Click Add next to the Certificates entry.

    Adding a certificate to a user account

  4. Paste the certificate in Base64 or PEM encoded format into the text field, and click Add.
  5. Click Save to store the changes.

As an Identity Management (IdM) administrator, you can remove an externally signed certificate from the account of an IdM user, host, or service by using the Identity Management (IdM) CLI .

Prerequisites

  • You have obtained the ticket-granting ticket of an administrative user.

Procedure

  1. To remove a certificate from an IdM user, enter:

    $ ipa user-remove-cert user --certificate=MIQTPrajQAwg...
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Alternatively, you can run the ipa user-remove-cert command interactively by executing it without adding any options.

  2. Specify the following information:

    • The name of the user
    • The Base64-encoded DER certificate
    Note

    Instead of copying and pasting the certificate contents into the command line, you can convert the certificate to the DER format and then re-encode it to Base64. For example, to remove the user_cert.pem certificate from user, enter:

    $ ipa user-remove-cert user --certificate="$(openssl x509 -outform der -in user_cert.pem | base64 -w 0)"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
  3. To remove a certificate from an IdM host, enter:

    • ipa host-remove-cert
  4. To remove a certificate from an IdM service, enter:

    • ipa service-remove-cert

As an Identity Management (IdM) administrator, you can remove an externally signed certificate from the account of an IdM user, host, or service by using the Identity Management (IdM) Web UI.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in to the Identity Management (IdM) Web UI as an administrative user.

Procedure

  1. Open the Identity tab, and select the Users, Hosts, or Services subtab.
  2. Click the name of the user, host, or service to open its configuration page.
  3. Click the Actions next to the certificate to delete, and select Delete.
  4. Click Save to store the changes.
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