Chapter 25. Server Certificate Using Keytool and Keystore
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# Chapter 25. Server Certificate Using Keytool and Keystore

Bartosz Malkowski <bmalkowski@tigase.pl> v2.0, June 2014: Reformatted for AsciiDoc. :toc: :numbered: :website: http://tigase.net :Date: 2010-04-06 21:18

To allow secure connections through SSL or TLS channel you need SSL certificate.

The main purpose of SSL certificate is to provide connecting entity with a proof of identity of your server. Significant role in proving identity of your server plays trusted third party - usually the issuer of the certificate.

Certificate issued by trusted third party usually cost you a money. You can also use self signed certificate which works as well but gives authentication warning on client software at the connecting time.

Tigase server binary package and sources repository contain so called "dummy" certificate which doesn’t refer to any real site name. This certificate is temporary. Should be used only for initial testing of your server. It should be replaced with real one as soon as possible. By real certificate I mean either self signed certificate or issued by trusted third party organization.

Here are instructions how to install real certificate for Tigase server.

Please note! You have to use keytool program included in JDK-1.6 or later version. The utility included in earlier versions can not import third party signed certificates correctly.

## Self Signed Certificate

If you don’t have third party signed certificate you should generate self-signed certificate.

Some clients don’t works correctly with DSA keys, so we need to use RSA algorithm. To generate private and public keypair you should use keytool:

    keytool -genkey -alias yourdomain -keystore rsa-keystore \
        -keyalg RSA -sigalg MD5withRSA

Where yourdomain is a domain part of JIDs on your Jabber/XMPP server. If you want to have TLS support for virtual domains you have to create certificate for each virtual domain. If you have just one domain or for some reason you have to use one certificate for all domains use default as an alias.

Now, enter the secret password to protect keystore:

    Enter keystore password: 123456

The keytool asks several questions about certificate data. First question is very important! You must enter a hostname of your XMPP server!!

    What is your first and last name?
      [Unknown]: jabber.myserver.org
    What is the name of your organizational unit?
      [Unknown]:
    What is the name of your organization?
      [Unknown]:
    What is the name of your City or Locality?
      [Unknown]:
    What is the name of your State or Province?
      [Unknown]:
    What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
      [Unknown]:
    Is CN=jabber.myserver.org, OU=Unknown, O=Unknown, L=Unknown, ST=Unknown, C=Unknown correct?
      [no]: yes

In last step you can enter password for key. At the moment different password for keystore and key is not supported so you have to enter the same password here as for keystore.

    Enter key password for <mykey>
                 (RETURN if same as keystore password):

Now you have to copy file rsa-keystore to directory certs/ in your tigase server installation. The file could also be installed in different location but then corrections to config file are required. Refer to configuration documentation for details.

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