Nortel Networks 4050 Key and certificate formats, Supported key and certificate formats Sheet 1

Chapter 11 Managing certificates 571

You can install new certificates or import or renew existing certificates.

Note: The Nortel SNAS 4050 supports keys and certificates created by using Apache-SSL, OpenSSL, or Stronghold SSL. However, for greater security, Nortel recommends creating keys and generating certificate signing requests from within the Nortel SNAS 4050 system using the CLI or SREM. This way, the encrypted private key never leaves the Nortel SNAS 4050 and is invisible to the user.

Key and certificate formats

The Nortel SNAS 4050 supports importing, saving, and exporting private keys and certificates in a number of standard formats. Table 120 summarizes the supported formats.

Table 120 Supported key and certificate formats (Sheet 1 of 2)

Format	Import/Add	Export/Save	Comment
PEM*	Yes	Yes	Encrypts the private key. Combines the private key and
			certificate in the same file.
DER	Yes	Yes	Does not encrypt the private key. Allows you to store
			the private key and certificate in separate files.
NET	Yes	Yes	Encrypts the private key. Allows you to store the
			private key and certificate in separate files.
PKCS12	Yes	Yes	Encrypts the private key. Combines the private key and
(also known as PFX)			certificate in the same file. Most browsers allow
			importing a combined key and certificate file in the
			PKCS12 format.
PKCS7	Yes	No	Certificate only.
PKCS8	Yes	No	Key only (used in WebLogic).
MS IIS 4	Yes	No	Key only (proprietary format).

*You must use the PEM format when:

• you save keys and certificates by copying

• you add a key or certificate by pasting

Nortel Secure Network Access Switch 4050 User Guide