WatchGuard Technologies SSL VPN manual Converting to a PEM-FormattedCertificate

Converting to a PEM-Formatted Certificate

For information about downloading OpenSSL for Windows, see the SourceForge Web site at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=23617&release_id=48801.

Converting to a PEM-Formatted Certificate

The signed certificate file that you receive from the Certificate Authority might not be in a PEM format. If the file is in binary format (DER), convert it to PEM format as follows:

openssl x509 -in certFile -inform DER -outform PEM -out convertedCertFile

If the certificate is already in a text format, it may be in PKCS format. You will receive a PKCS formatted certificate if you specified that the certificate will be used with a Microsoft rather than Apache operating system. The following command results in an error message if the certificate is not in PEM format. The certFile should not contain the private key when you run this command.

openssl verify -verbose -CApath /tmp certFile

If that command results in the following error message, the file is not in PEM format. certFile: unable to load certificate file

4840:error:0906D064:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:bad base64 decode:pem_lib.c:781:

To convert the certificate from PKCS7 to PEM format

1Run the command:

openssl pkcs7 -in ./certFile-print_certs The output will look like this: subject=...

...

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

... Server Certificate ...

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

subject=...

...

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

... Intermediate Cert ...

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

2Combine the server certificate data and the intermediate certificate data (if it exists) from the output with the private key as specified in “Combining the Private Key with the Signed Certificate” on page 155 and “Generating Trusted Certificates for Multiple Levels” on page 156.

Combining the Private Key with the Signed Certificate

You must combine the signed certificate with the private key before you can upload it to the Firebox SSL VPN Gateway.

Administration Guide 155