Pending Certificate Request Alerts

Pending certificate request alerts are used to send email notifications to certificate administrators when a new certificate request that requires approval based on policy on the CAClosed 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. is generated. The alerts can be customized to provide detailed information about the certificate requests.

Important:  These alerts are not used to provide email alerts or run event handlers for certificate requests that require approval based on policies configured in Keyfactor Command workflows. Pending request notification for requests handled by Keyfactor Command workflowClosed A workflow is a series of steps necessary to complete a process. In the context of Keyfactor Command, it refers to the workflow builder, which allows you automate event-driven tasks when a certificate is requested or revoked. are configured within the workflow (see Adding or Modifying a Workflow Definition).

Pending certificate requests are generated, for the most part, based on templates that are configured to require manager approval at the CA level.

Figure 119: Certificate Template Requiring Manager Approval

The functionality of pending alerts for certificates requested within Keyfactor Command has been largely replaced by the new Keyfactor Command workflow added in Keyfactor Command version 10 (see Workflow). When alerting with Keyfactor Command workflow, templates do not need to be configured to require manager approval. This is because the approval handling is fully controlled within Keyfactor Command. In fact, templates generally should not be configured to require manager approval when using Keyfactor Command workflow, since this would generally require approval both at the Keyfactor Command level and at the CA level, depending on workflow configuration.

Pending alerts are retained for use in these scenarios:

  • For customers not wishing to make use of Keyfactor Command workflow.

  • For customers still in the process of migrating from CA-based workflow to Keyfactor Command workflow.

  • For certificates requested outside of Keyfactor Command using templates that require manager approval.

Note:  Pending request alerts are supported only for Microsort CAs and select CA gateways. This feature is not supported for EJBCA CAs.