Certificate - Avocent KVM over IP switch User Manual

6.4.4

Certificate

The PS/2 IP-KVM switch uses the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol for any encrypted
network traffic between itself and a connected client. During the connection establishment
the PS/2 IP-KVM switch has to expose its identity to a client using a cryptographic certificate.
Upon delivery, this certificate and the underlying secret key is the same for all PS/2 IP-KVM
switch ever produced and certainly will not match the network configuration that will be
applied to the PS/2 IP-KVM switch cards by its user. The certificate's underlying secret key is
also used for securing the SSL handshake. Hence, this is a security risk (but far better than
no encryption at all).
However, it is possible to generate and install a new certificate that is unique for a particular
PS/2 IP-KVM switch card. In order to do that, the PS/2 IP-KVM switch is able to generate a
new cryptographic key and the associated Certificate Signing Request (CSR) that needs to
be certified by a certification authority (CA). A certification authority verifies that you are the
person who you claim you are, and signs and issues a SSL certificate to you.
The following steps are necessary to create and install a SSL certificate for the PS/2 IP-KVM
switch:
• Create a SSL Certificate Signing Request using the panel shown in Figure 6-23. You need
to fill out a number of fields that are explained below. Once this is done, click on the button
" Create " which will initiate the Certificate Signing Request generation. The CSR can be
downloaded to your administration machine with the "Download CSR" button (see Figure
6-24).
• Send the saved CSR to a CA for certification. You will get the new certificate from the CA
after a more or less complicated traditional authentication process (depending on the CA).
• Upload the certificate to the PS/2 IP-KVM switch using the "Upload" button as shown in
Figure 6-24
.
Figure 6-23. Certificate Settings
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