Ssl Generation Explained - Red Hat NETWORK 4.1.0 - CLIENT Configuration Manual

Chapter 3. SSL Infrastructure
Note
The
rhns-certs-tools
current Red Hat Enterprise Linux system with minimal requirements. This is offered as
a convenience for administrators who wish to manage their SSL infrastructure from their
workstation or another system other than their RHN Server(s).
Here are the cases in which the tool is required:
When updating your CA public certificate - this is rare.
•
When installing an RHN Proxy Server version 3.6 or later that connects to the central
•
RHN Servers as its top-level service - the hosted service, for security reasons, cannot be
a repository for your CA SSL key and certificate, which is private to your organization.
When reconfiguring your RHN infrastructure to use SSL where it previously did not.
•
When adding RHN Proxy Servers of versions prior to 3.6 into your RHN infrastructure.
•
When adding multiple RHN Satellite Servers to your RHN infrastructure - consult with
•
a Red Hat representative for instructions regarding this.
Here are the cases in which the tool is not required:
During installation of an RHN Satellite Server - all SSL settings are configured during
•
the installation process. The SSL keys and certificate are built and deployed automati-
cally.
During installation of an RHN Proxy Server version 3.6 or later if connected to an RHN
•
Satellite Server version 3.6 or later as its top-level service - the RHN Satellite Server
contains all of the SSL information needed to configure, build and deploy the RHN
Proxy Server's SSL keys and certificates.
The installation procedures of both the RHN Satellite Server and the RHN Proxy Server
ensure the CA SSL public certificate is deployed to the
This public certificate is used by the client systems to connect to the RHN Server. Refer to
Section 3.3 Deploying the CA SSL Public Certificate to Clients for more information.
In short, if your organization's RHN infrastructure deploys the latest version of RHN Satel-
lite Server as its top-level service, you will likely have little need to use the tool. Otherwise,
become familiar with its usage.

3.2.1. SSL Generation Explained

The primary benefits of using the RHN SSL Maintenance Tool are security, flexibility,
and portability. Security is achieved through the creation of distinct Web server SSL keys
and certificates for each RHN server, all signed by a single Certificate Authority SSL key
pair created by your organization. Flexibility is supplied by the tool's ability to work on
, which contains
rhn-ssl-tool
, can be installed and run on any
directory of each server.
/pub
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