Secure Global Desktop Administration Guide > Commands > The tarantella security certrequest command

The tarantella security certrequest command

Syntax

tarantella security certrequest --country country
                                --state state
                                --orgname org
                               [ --ouname ou ] 
                               [ --email email ] 
                               [ --locality locality ] 
                               [ --keylength length ]

Description

Generates a Certificate Signing Request (CSR), and a public and private key pair.

You should send the generated CSR to a supported Certificate Authority (CA) to obtain a certificate for use with Secure Global Desktop security services.

Important notes:

If your CA lets you change the hostname stored in the certificate, make sure the certificate contains a fully qualified DNS name (for example, boston.indigo-insurance.com, not boston).
You should make a copy of the private key and CSR generated by this command and keep them in a safe, secure location (on a floppy disk in a safe, for example). Key information is stored in the /opt/tarantella/var/tsp directory. If your private key is lost or damaged, you will be unable to use any certificate you obtain using the CSR.
This command generates a new key pair each time you run it. If you generate a CSR with this command and use it to obtain a certificate, running this command again means you won't be able to use the old certificate.

You can use the tarantella security certinfo command to display information about certificates and CSRs.

If you don't specify --ouname, --email or --locality Secure Global Desktop simply omits that information from the CSR -- there are no default values.

The options that can be used are as follows:

Argument	Description
`--country country`	Specifies the country in which your organization is located. Use ISO 3166 country codes here. For example, use US for the United States or DE for Germany.
`--state state`	Specifies the state or province in which your organization is located. Don't use abbreviations here (for example, use Massachusetts rather than Mass. or MA).
`--orgname org`	Specifies the official, legal name of your organization.
`[ --ouname ou ]`	Specifies the name of a subdivision (organizational unit) within your organization, if required. If you don't need to specify an OU, you can use this setting to specify a less formal organization name, if you want.
`[ --email email ]`	Specifies your business email address. This address will be used for correspondence between you and the Certificate Authority you send the CSR to.
`[ --locality locality ]`	Specifies the city or principality where your organization is located, if needed.
`[ --keylength length ]`	Specifies the length of the key pair. The default is 1024. We recommend you use 512-bit or 1024-bit keys.

Note Make sure you quote any value containing spaces, for example "Indigo Insurance".

Examples

tarantella security certrequest \
  --country US \
  --state MA \
  --orgname "Indigo Insurance" \
  --email "orange@indigo-insurance.com"

Generates a CSR for Indigo Insurance, located in Massachusetts, with contact Bill Orange.

Related topics
What are X.509 certificates and why do I need one? What certificates does Secure Global Desktop support? Obtaining and installing an X.509 certificate