Posts on this page:

Update 22.10.2017: updated use-case recommendations based on best practices.

Update 27.06.2018: added commands


In this article I will discuss about Root CA certificate renewal with new and existing key pair. At first we discuss about CA certificate renewal with existing key pair.

Renewal with existing key pair

When you renew CA certificate with existing key pair, nothing important in certificate is changed. The certificate will contain the same public and private key. As the result all previously issued certificates will chain up to new CA cert without any changes. You just replace old CRT file in AIA download locations. In addition, new CA cert ValidFrom (NotBefore) field will contain the value when existing CA key pair was generated. For example, old CA cert has ValidFrom (NotBefore) = 08.10.2000 and ValidTo (NotAfter) 08.10.2010. When you renew CA cert with existing key pair new certificate will have following values: ValidFrom (NotBefore) 08.10.2000 and ValidTo (NotAfter) 08.10.2020. In other words this renewal just increases current CA certificate validity period. In addition new CA cert introduces one new extension: Preious CA certificate hash that will contains preious certificate Thumbprint extension value. And changes another extension: CA Version. Let's take a look to a CA Version extension.


Read more →

Many, many and many administrators request new certificates and mark private keys as exportable. Is this a good solution? Definitely no. Are there a reasons to do that? In most cases — no. Do I need to explain the subject? Definitely yes.

In many MS guides that are suited with custom certificate enrollment you may find certificate enrollment configuration INF file like this:


Read more →

Recently I decided to perform little changes on my OCSP Responder. I'm using offline CA (root) and have configured to include OCSP URL to all issued certificates. But some time I haven't OCSP configuration for  my root CA. And today I have completed all changes and now Root CA issues OCSP signing certs for appropriate OCSP configuration.

You can find required info about the subject on TechNet: Online Responder Installation, Configuration, and Troubleshooting Guide or in AskDS blog: Implementing an OCSP responder: Part IV - Configuring OCSP for use with Standalone CAs. However both links contains incorrect settings, therefore I'll post correct steps.


Read more →

Disclaimer: this article contains information about modifying the IIS configuration files. Before you modify the IIS configuration file, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the file if a problem occurs.

This article contains information about unsupported operations. Before you modify any settings described below, make sure to backup your system and make sure that you understand how to restore the system if a problem occurs


A little abstract. The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is an Internet protocol used for obtaining the revocation status of an X.509 digital certificate. Why it has been developed? Prior to OCSP, clients checks certificate status (valid/revoked) using certificate revocation lists (CRLs). Client software downloads certificate issuer CRL file and examines its Revocation List property. If particular certificate serial number is present in CRL, certificate is considered as revoked or invalid and is rejected for usage. While CRLs may contain many revoked certificates, CRL size is grown. Typically empty CRL with default settings is about 600 bytes (the CRL size generally depends on field and extension textual information length and signing certificate key length). Each revoked certificate entry is about 80 bytes. If 10 certificates are revoked, CRL size will be: 600 + 80 * 10 = 1400 bytes. For 100 revoked certificates the size will be about 9 kilobytes. For 100 000 revoked certificates, the size will be approximately 8 megabytes.


Read more →

This article describes process of obtaqining and installing a digital certificate for OpsMgr agent that is not a member of your AD forest or a trusted forest. This article assumes that your managed computer is running one of the following operating systems:

  • Windows 2000
  • Windows XP
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows 7
  • Windows 8/8.1
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 2000 Server
  • Windows Server 2003 (including R2)
  • Windows Server 2008 (including R2 and Server Core)
  • Windows Server 2012 (including R2 and Server Core)

 Target audience is OpsMgr administrators that have limited or no understanding of what certificates are and how PKI works. Described below is not the only way to achieve the same or similar goal but it implements many of PKI Best Practices.

In this article


Read more →