Netscape MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 6.0 Installation And Setup Manual page 42

System Overview
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
• Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
• X.509 certificate formats recommended by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU)
• Public-Key Infrastructure (X.509) (PKIX) standards proposed by the PKIX
working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
• Federal Information Standards Publications (FIPS PUBS) 140-1.
Certificate Management System leverages Netscape Directory Server and Netscape
Console to provide a complete, scalable, high-performance certificate management
solution for extranets and intranets. Its strong support for existing and evolving
standards makes Certificate Management System especially well-suited for large
heterogeneous extranets that must support a variety of platforms, client and server
software, hardware devices such as routers and hardware tokens, virtual private
network (VPN) implementations, existing intranet security systems, and so on. It
can be customized and configured to fit widely varying deployment scenarios,
permitting rapid integration with existing client and server software, customer
databases, security systems, and authentication procedures.
You can use Certificate Management System to set up and manage your own
public-key infrastructure or to deploy a public certification authority. Certificate
Management System meets the needs of an enterprise, leveraging your existing
enterprise resources and services, and will grow with your business needs to meet
the demand of Internet-scale deployments.
With Certificate Management System, you can do the following operations:
• Process certificate requests from various end entities, such as web browsers,
servers, routers, and virtual private network (VPN) clients, and issue
certificates that conform to X.509 version 3 standard.
• Employ specific authentication methods for end-entity certificate enrollment,
renewal, and revocation.
• Specify policy restrictions on certificate-related operations, such as certificate
formulation, issuance, renewal, and revocation.
• Specify policy restrictions on key-related operations, such as archival and
recovery of end users' encryption private keys.
• Revoke certificates, and maintain and publish a list of revoked certificates.
• Enable real-time verification of certificates by OCSP-compliant clients.
42 Netscape Certificate Management System Installation and Setup Guide • March 2002