Certificates; Certificate Management - Motorola WiNG 5 System Reference Manual

12 - 16 WiNG 5 Access Point System Reference Guide

12.2 Certificates

A certificate links identity information with a public key enclosed in the certificate.
A certificate authority (CA) is a network authority that issues and manages security credentials and public keys for
message encryption. The CA signs all digital certificates it issues with its own private key. The corresponding public
key is contained within the certificate and is called a CA certificate. A browser must contain this CA certificate in its
Trusted Root Library so it can trust certificates signed by the CA's private key.
Depending on the public key infrastructure, the digital certificate includes the owner's public key, the certificate
expiration date, the owner's name and other public key owner information.
Each certificate is digitally signed by a trustpoint. The trustpoint signing the certificate can be a certificate authority,
corporation or individual. A trustpoint represents a CA/identity pair containing the identity of the CA, CA-specific
configuration parameters, and an association with an enrolled identity certificate.
SSH keys are a pair of cryptographic keys used to authenticate users instead of, or in addition to, a
username/password. One key is private and the other is public key. Secure Shell (SSH) public key authentication can
be used by a client to access resources, if properly configured. A RSA key pair must be generated on the client.
For more information on certification activities, refer to the following:
•

Certificate Management

• RSA Key Management
• Certificate Creation
• Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
12.2.1 Certificate Management
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Certificates
If not wanting to use an existing certificate or key with a selected device, an existing stored certificate can be
leveraged from a different device for use with the target device. Device certificates can be imported and exported to
a secure remote location for archive and retrieval as they are required for application to other managed devices.
To configure trustpoints for use with certificates:
1. Select Operations > Certificates.