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Create a Signing Request and Private Key

To obtain a signed Digital Certificate you must create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). At the same time your CSR is created, you will also generate a Private Key. The CSR is used by the signing authority to create a signed digital certificate which works with your Private Key to provide secure access to your Web site. There is some necessary information that you gather before generating the CSR and Private Key. The following information is required as part of the CSR and must be entered exactly as you want them to appear in your certificate:

PEM Passphrase -- This is a security phrase which, like a password, ensures that only you can use your digital certificate. Be sure to use a phrase which you can easily remember but which is not easily guessed. Enter the passphrase in the future to install your signed certificate.
Company Location -- Know the country, province or state, and city where you want the certificate to display as your company location.
Company Contact Information -- This includes the complete company or organization name and the organizational unit or department (if applicable).
Your Domain Name -- Determine the exact domain name you want to use to access your Web site securely.
Contact Email Address -- The contact email address that you want to have the signing authority use when corresponding with you.
Extra Information - This information can include a challenge password which some signing authorities use to allow you access to your certificate and which they require when interacting with them. You can also enter additional company information.

Connect to your private server by means of SSH and issue the following command:

# mkdir /usr/local/certs
# cd /usr/local/certs
# openssl req -new

You are prompted to provide the information you gathered earlier. Common name refers to the domain name that you want to use when you access your site using SSL. For example, domain.com, www.domain.com, cname.domain.com, or *.domain.com. The domain must be used exactly as it appears in the certificate.

When you have entered all the data, your CSR is shown. It is a good idea to save the CSR by copying and pasting it exactly as it appears on the screen, with line breaks and no extra lines before or after into a file on your local computer. You will need it when you are ordering your SSL certificate from a signing authority's Web site. The following is an example of a CSR.

In the directory where you ran the openssl command you will also find a new file called privkey.pm. This is your private key which you will need at a later time. The following is an example of a private key.

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