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Forked from Eng-Fouad/ssl-certs.md
Created July 8, 2018 17:24
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Generate self-signed PKCS#12 SSL certificate and export its keys using Java keytool and openssl.

Steps to generate self-signed PKCS#12 SSL certificate and export its keys:

1- Create PKCS#12 keystore (.p12 or .pfx file)

keytool -genkeypair -keystore myKeystore.p12 -storetype PKCS12 -storepass MY_PASSWORD -alias KEYSTORE_ENTRY -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 99999 -dname "CN=My SSL Certificate, OU=My Team, O=My Company, L=My City, ST=My State, C=SA" -ext san=dns:mydomain.com,dns:localhost,ip:127.0.0.1
  • myKeystore.p12 = keystore filename. It can with .pfx extension as well.
  • MY_PASSWORD = password used for the keystore and the private key as well.
  • CN = commonName, it will be shown as certiciate name in certificates list.
  • OU = organizationUnit, department name for example.
  • O = organizationName, the company name.
  • L = localityName, the city.
  • S = stateName, the state.
  • C = country, the 2-letter code of the country.

Note: This step can be done using openssl but it's more complicated.

2- Create the public certificate (has the header -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----):

Using keytool:

keytool -exportcert -keystore myKeystore.p12 -storepass MY_PASSWORD -alias KEYSTORE_ENTRY -rfc -file public-certificate.pem

Or using openssl:

openssl pkcs12 -in myKeystore.p12 -password pass:MY_PASSWORD -nokeys -out public-certificate.pem

Note: Import public-certificate.pem into browsers to trust it. Add it to "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" certificate store.

3- Export the private key (has the header -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----):

openssl pkcs12 -in myKeystore.p12 -password pass:MY_PASSWORD -nodes -nocerts -out private-key.key

4- Export the public key from the private key (has the header -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----):

openssl rsa -in private-key.key -pubout > public-key.pub
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