Add Certificate

The add certificate tool is typically used to import certificates that are not brought in either via CA A certificate authority (CA) is an entity that issues digital certificates. Within Keyfactor Command, a CA may be a Microsoft CA or a Keyfactor gateway to a cloud-based or remote CA. synchronization or by certificate store scans. The tool supports importing certificates with the following formats and extensions:

CER A CER or CRT format certificate file as downloaded from Keyfactor Command is a base64-encoded certificate. Since it's presented in ASCII, you can open it in any text editor. CER/CRT certificates always begin and end with entries like ---- BEGIN CERTIFICATE---- and ----END CERTIFICATE----. CER/CRT certificates contain a single certificate and do not include a subject header./CRT A CER or CRT format certificate file as downloaded from Keyfactor Command is a base64-encoded certificate. Since it's presented in ASCII, you can open it in any text editor. CER/CRT certificates always begin and end with entries like ---- BEGIN CERTIFICATE---- and ----END CERTIFICATE----. CER/CRT certificates contain a single certificate and do not include a subject header.: .cer or.crt
PEM A PEM format certificate file is a base64-encoded certificate. Since it's presented in ASCII, you can open it in any text editor. PEM certificates always begin and end with entries like ---- BEGIN CERTIFICATE---- and ----END CERTIFICATE----. PEM certificates can contain a single certificate or a full certifiate chain and may contain a private key. In general, extensions of .cer and .crt are certificate files with no private key, .key is a separate private key file, and .pem is both a certificate and private key.: .pem
PKCS#12 A PFX file (personal information exchange format), also known as a PKCS#12 archive, is a single, password-protected certificate archive that contains both the public and matching private key and, optionally, the certificate chain. It is a common format for Windows servers.: .pfx or .p12
PKCS#7: .p7b

Note: Certificates with an ML-DSA algorithm and a private key

Private keys are used in cryptography (symmetric and asymmetric) to encrypt or sign content. In asymmetric cryptography, they are used together in a key pair with a public key. The private or secret key is retained by the key's creator, making it highly secure., either in seed form or expanded form, can be uploaded. The private key will be stored in the provided format.

This tool has several purposes, including:

It can be used to import certificates generated outside the enterprise PKI A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a set of roles, policies, and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption. environment—such as those purchased from a commercial certificate vendor or generated by a non-Microsoft or non-EJBCA CA.
It can be used to import certificates that would not be automatically imported during a synchronization of configured Microsoft or EJBCA CAs such as root CA certificates that aren’t supported by synchronization.
It can be used to import certificates acquired using CSRs generated by Keyfactor Command and issued by a CA not managed using Keyfactor Command to allow for ongoing management with Keyfactor Command.
It can be used to push a certificate with the associated private key out to a certificate store when you have the appropriate .pfx or .p12 file available.
It can be used as a quick shortcut to push a certificate without a private key out to a certificate store when you have the certificate file in hand and don’t want to search for the certificate in Keyfactor Command in order to push it out to the certificate store.

Before you can add a certificate to a certificate store with this option, you must first add the certificate store in Keyfactor Command (see Certificate Stores) and install, start, and approve the orchestrator Keyfactor orchestrators perform a variety of functions, including managing certificate stores and SSH key stores. (see Orchestrator Management and Orchestrators).

If you import a certificate that has either already been imported via a synchronization task or has been manually imported previously, the certificate will not be re-imported. You will receive a notification message, when you save it, if the certificate already exists in the Keyfactor Command database. Any metadata Metadata provides information about a piece of data. It is used to summarize basic information about data, which can make working with the data easier. In Keyfactor Command, the certificate metadata feature allows you to create custom metadata fields that allow you to tag certificates with tracking information about certificates. currently stored in the database for that certificate will be displayed in the metadata fields on the page, and any changes you make to the metadata on this page will overwrite the existing metadata for the certificate when you complete the import (for all certificate formats).

To use the add certificate tool

In the Management Portal, browse to Certificates > Add Certificate.
In the Add Certificate section of the page, click the Upload button to open a browse window.
In the browse window, browse to select the certificate you wish to import.
For a certificate with an encrypted private key, when prompted enter the password for the encrypted key and Save. This will open the Add Certificate page, which will allow you to change/add metadata and choose certificate locations to deploy the certificate to. Set Private Key Password allows you to reenter the password once you have uploaded the certificate.

Figure 51: Add Password for Certificate with Encrypted Private Key
In the Certificate/PFX Details section of the page, review the certificate information.

Figure 52: Add Certificate Information
In the Metadata section of the page, populate any defined certificate metadata fields (see Certificate Metadata, Configuring Template Options, and Adding or Modifying an Enrollment Pattern) as appropriate. These fields may be required or optional depending on your metadata configuration. Required fields will be marked with *Required next to the field label. Any completed values will be associated with the certificate once it has been imported into Keyfactor Command. The order in which the metadata fields appear can be changed (see Sorting Metadata Fields).

Email metadata fields will allow for multiple email addresses to be added via a pop-up text box where email addresses are entered separated by comma or semicolon. During entry the addresses will appear as a single row in the metadata grid. However, after saving each email address will be displayed on a separate row.

Tip: If a hint has been provided for a specific metadata field, it will display in parentheses to the right of the metadata label.

Figure 53: Populate Metadata Fields
The Certificate Owner section of the page appears if you set the Certificate Owner Role policy to Optional or Required at either the system-wide or enrollment policy level (see Configuring System-Wide Settings and Enrollment Pattern: Policies Tab). The certificate owner refers to a security role (not the users, individually), as defined in Keyfactor Command (see Security Roles and Claims). The Owner Role Name is a search select field. To narrow the list of results in the search select field, begin typing a search string in the search field. The roles available to choose from will depend on the certificate security configuration for the user (see security roles and permissions for Certificates).

In all cases, the owner role field behavior, optional, required or hidden in the UI, is controlled by either the enrollment pattern system-wide policy or the individual enrollment pattern policy. The field will be pre-populated with the default certificate owner, if set, on the enrollment pattern, unless the acting user is not a member of the default user roles.
- Expanded Change Owner Permission: A user who holds the Certificates > Expanded Change Owner permission can set the certificate owner to any role within the permission sets they are a member of. This permission setting overrides the Certificates > Collections > Change Owner permission (both Global and Collection The certificate search function allows you to query the Keyfactor Command database for certificates from any available source based on any criteria of the certificates and save the results as a collection that will be availble in other places in the Management Portal (e.g. expiration alerts and certain reports).-level) if both are set.
- Collections > Change Owner Permission:
  - Global or Collection Level—No Default Value: A user who holds only the Certificates > Collections > Change Owner permission at either the Global or Collection level can set the certificate owner to any role they belong to if there is not a default value populated from the enrollment pattern or existing certificate on a renewal.
  - Global or Collection Level—Default Value: A user who holds only the Certificates > Collections > Change Owner permission at either the Global or Collection level can change the default certificate owner to any role they belong to. If the default value populated from the enrollment pattern or existing certificate on a renewal is not a role held by the acting user, the this value will not be populated in the Certificate Owner Role field. The user will still be allowed to add a new owner value.
- Search Select Disabled: The certificate owner search select is disabled if the acting user does not hold the current certificate owner role (either in a global or collection-level context).
Figure 54: Select a Certificate Owner

Note: If the certificate being imported, or one of the certificates in its chain, already exists in the Keyfactor Command database and has an assigned certificate owner to which the user making the import request does not belong, the certificate owner will not be changed.
In the Install into Certificate Locations section of the page, select each certificate store location to which you want to distribute the certificate, if desired. To do this, click the Include Certificate Stores button. This will cause the Select Certificate Store Locations dialog to appear. Make your certificate store selections in this dialog as described in Select Certificate Store Locations, below, and click Include and Close. You will then see some additional fields on the page. Populate these as per Add to Certificate Stores and Information Required for Certificate Stores, below.
Select Certificate Store Locations Dialog
The Select Certificate Store Locations dialog allows you to run queries against your certificate store list to select the store(s) to which to deploy. Check the box next to each certificate store location to which you want to distribute the certificate.
Note: Certificate stores appear in the grid if:
- They are compatible with the certificate type.
- They are in containers to which you have permissions.
Tip: You may change the search results by using the search fields at the top of the dialog. All of the Keyfactor Command grid search features are available to assist your search. See Using the Certificate Store Search Feature for more information on the available search fields. The default search criteria is AgentAvailable is equal to True.

The actions on the Select Certificate Store Locations dialog are:
- Include
  
  Click this to add the selected certificate store(s) to your certificate selection and leave the search dialog open for further searches.
- Include and Close
  
  Click this to close the search dialog and add the selected certificate store(s) to your certificate selection, which will then be displayed and ready for updates as per the instructions in Add to Certificate Stores.
- Close
  
  Click this to cancel the operation and return to the main page with no certificate stores selected.
Figure 55: Select Certificate Store Locations Dialog
Add to Certificate Stores
The Add to Certificate Stores page appears once you select at least one certificate store to distribute your certificate to. It includes a grid section with a series of tabs that display a tab for each type of certificate store selected with a list of the selected stores under each tab. The header section of the dialog shows global options that apply to the add job as a whole:
- Include Certificate Stores
  
  You may return to the Select Certificate Store Locations dialog by clicking Include Certificate Stores above the grid. The current selections will be retained.
- Schedule when to run the job for the certificate store
  
  In the Schedule dropdown, select a time at which the job to add the certificate to the stores should run. The choices are Immediate or Exactly Once at a specified date and time. If you choose Exactly Once, enter the date and time for the job. A job scheduled for Immediate running will run within a few minutes of saving the operation. The default is Immediate.
Click Remove at the top of the grid to remove the selected certificate store from the page. The certificate will not be added to the store.

For each selected certificate store you can apply the following actions:
- Alias
  
  Add an Alias below the grid, if applicable, for the certificate store type. See the Information Required by Certificate Store section, below, for more information.
  
  The Alias field is a search-select entry type. The dropdown lists all aliases associated with the selected certificate store.
  - If an alias appears in multiple certificate stores, the number of locations is shown in parentheses next to the alias name. This indicator does not appear if the alias exists in only one selected store.
  - Users can enter a new alias as long as Custom Aliases are not forbidden on the certificate store type Certificate Store Types.
  - If you select an existing alias without checking Overwrite, the Save will fail and the certificate store(s) in which that alias already exists will be listed.
  Note: The tab heading of the certificate location will display an alert if an alias is required for the location. If Supports Custom Alias is set to Forbidden on the certificate store type, the Alias field will not display unless Overwrite is checked on this page.
Figure 56: Add Certificate—Install into Certificate Locations

Figure 57: Alias Required Alert on Save
Information Required by Certificate Stores
Each type of certificate store has different requirements for providing an alias or other additional information.

The certificate store type fields that are relevant to certificate store use are:
- Supports Entry Password
  
  If your certificate store type has this enabled, you will have the option to enter a password for the certificate entry in the certificate store on the addition of an entry into the certificate store.
  
  Figure 58: Certificate Store Type Configuration: Basic Tab
- Supports Custom Alias
  
  A value of Required indicates that a custom alias will be required when a certificate is added to a certificate store. Optional indicates an alias can be associated with the entry if desired. If your certificate store type sets this to Forbidden, the Alias field will not display when adding a certificate to a certificate store unless Overwrite is checked on the add page. In this case, you’re not associating an alias with the certificate you’re adding to the store but rather specifying the alias of the certificate already in the store that you wish to replace (in function) with the new certificate you’re adding.
  
  The format of custom alias values varies depending on the certificate store type. In many cases, the alias is the thumbprint of the certificate. In some cases, it’s the file name of the certificate file or a custom alias provided at the time the certificate was added to the certificate store. For instance:
  
  Note: Keyfactor Command will automatically strip out any spaces between the octets in thumbprints in the alias field, so it does not matter whether you enter the thumbprint with or without spaces.
- Private Key Handling
  
  When adding a certificate to a certificate store, if you select a certificate that does not have an associated private key, certificate stores with this option set to Required will not appear as available stores to which the certificate can be added. If this option is set to Forbidden and the selected certificate has a private key, the private key will be ignored and only the public key In asymmetric cryptography, public keys are used together in a key pair with a private key. The private key is retained by the key's creator while the public key is widely distributed to any user or target needing to interact with the holder of the private key. will be delivered to the target.
  
  Figure 59: Certificate Store Type Configuration: Advanced Tab
- Entry Parameters
  
  Not all certificate store types will have entry parameters. The ones shown in Figure 60: Certificate Store Type Configuration: Entry Parameters Tab are for the custom Windows Certificate type for the Keyfactor custom-built IIS Certificate Store Manager extension (see Installing Certificate Store Management Extensions).
  
  Figure 60: Certificate Store Type Configuration: Entry Parameters Tab
Click Save to import the certificate to Keyfactor Command

Note: When you save this job, a new management job will be added to the orchestrator jobs list.

If an inventory job does not already exist for the certificate store, one will be added automatically to update Keyfactor Command with the changes to the certificate store. The inventory job will be configured to run either immediately or at the same exactly once time as the management job, depending on the configuration of the management job and then will be cleared.

Note: When you import a certificate containing a private key (a .pfx or .p12 file), the private key for that certificate is stored in the Keyfactor Command database. Users with limited permissions to the Add Certificate function may have permissions to upload certificates but not store private keys. If a user with this permission model uploads a certificate containing a private key, the certificate itself will be imported (if it does not already exist in the database), but the private key will not be stored. The user will receive a message indicating this. For more information about setting permissions for importing certificates, see Security Roles and Claims.

Tip: Click the help icon (

) next to the Add Certificate page title to open the Keyfactor Software & Documentation Portal to this section. You will receive a prompt indicating:

You are being redirected to an external website. Would you like to proceed?

You can also find the help icon () at the top of the page next to the Log Out button. From here you can choose to open either the Keyfactor Software & Documentation Portal at the home page or the Keyfactor API Endpoint Utility.

Keyfactor provides two sets of documentation: the On-Premises Documentation Suite and the Managed Services Documentation Suite. Which documentation set is accessed is determined by the Application Settings: On-Prem Documentation setting (see Application Settings: Console Tab).

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