Create a certificate

This procedure allows you to create a certificate.

1. Create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and private key:

   $ openssl req -new -out MyCert.csr

   Follow the instructions to create the CSR. This command creates a pem file containing the private key of the CSR protected by a password. By default, openssl outputs the private key in the privkey.pem file. If you want to specify a different file name, or if your openssl version does not output the private key by default, add -keyout myprivkey.pem to the command.

2. Remove the private key password (Optional):

   $ openssl rsa -in privkey.pem -out MyCert.pem

   The unprotected private key is output in MyCert.pem.

3. Create a certificate (self-signed X.509 certificate valid for a period of 1 year) trusted by the Root Certificate Authority created in Create a certificate authority:
   (line breaks added for document readability)

   $ openssl x509 -in MyCert.csr -out MyCert.crt -req -signkey MyCert.pem 
     -CA MyCA.crt -CAkey MyCA.pem -days 365

   Note: About the CSR and its private key:

   • If you want an official Certificate Authority, you must send the CSR file to one of the self-established Certificate Authority companies on the Internet instead of creating it with openssl. See Encryption and authentication.
   • The CSR file is also used to encrypt messages that only its corresponding private key can decrypt.