Generate Ssl Certificate Key File

10.12.2020
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  • Creating a.pem File for SSL Certificate Installations.pem SSL Creation Instructions. Creating a.pem with the Private Key and Entire Trust Chain. Log into your DigiCert Management Console and download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt) and Primary Certificates (yourdomainname.crt).
  • Look for a folder called REQUEST or 'Certificate Enrollment Request Certificates. Select the private key that you wish to backup. Right click on the file and choose All Tasks Export. The certificate export wizard will start, please click Next to continue. In the next window select Yes, export the private key and click Next.

Creating a.pem File for SSL Certificate Installations. Creating a.pem with the Entire SSL Certificate Trust Chain. Creating a.pem with the Private Key.

.pem SSL Creation Instructions

SSL .pem files (concatenated certificate container files), are frequently required for certificate installations when multiple certificates are being imported as one file.

Free microsoft office 2013 key generator. This article contains multiple sets of instructions that walk through various .pem file creation scenarios.

Creating a .pem with the Entire SSL Certificate Trust Chain

  1. Log into your DigiCert Management Console and download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt), Root (TrustedRoot.crt), and Primary Certificates (your_domain_name.crt).

  2. Open a text editor (such as wordpad) and paste the entire body of each certificate into one text file in the following order:

    1. The Primary Certificate - your_domain_name.crt
    2. The Intermediate Certificate - DigiCertCA.crt
    3. The Root Certificate - TrustedRoot.crt

    Make sure to include the beginning and end tags on each certificate. The result should look like this:

    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Primary SSL certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Intermediate certificate: DigiCertCA.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Root certificate: TrustedRoot.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----

    Save the combined file as your_domain_name.pem. The .pem file is now ready to use.

Creating a .pem with the Server and Intermediate Certificates

  1. Log into your DigiCert Management Console and download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt) and Primary Certificates (your_domain_name.crt).

  2. Open a text editor (such as wordpad) and paste the entire body of each certificate into one text file in the following order:

    1. The Primary Certificate - your_domain_name.crt
    2. The Intermediate Certificate - DigiCertCA.crt

    Make sure to include the beginning and end tags on each certificate. The result should look like this:

    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Primary SSL certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Intermediate certificate: DigiCertCA.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----

    Save the combined file as your_domain_name.pem. The .pem file is now ready to use.

Creating a .pem with the Private Key and Entire Trust Chain

  1. Log into your DigiCert Management Console and download your Intermediate (DigiCertCA.crt) and Primary Certificates (your_domain_name.crt).

  2. Open a text editor (such as wordpad) and paste the entire body of each certificate into one text file in the following order:

    1. The Private Key - your_domain_name.key
    2. The Primary Certificate - your_domain_name.crt
    3. The Intermediate Certificate - DigiCertCA.crt
    4. The Root Certificate - TrustedRoot.crt

    Make sure to include the beginning and end tags on each certificate. The result should look like this:

    -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    (Your Private Key: your_domain_name.key)
    -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Primary SSL certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Intermediate certificate: DigiCertCA.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    (Your Root certificate: TrustedRoot.crt)
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----

    Save the combined file as your_domain_name.pem. The .pem file is now ready to use.

If you want to convert your website from HTTP to HTTPS, you need to get a SSL certificate from a valid organization like Verisign or Thawte. You can also generate self signed SSL certificate for testing purpose.

In this article, let us review how to generate private key file (server.key), certificate signing request file (server.csr) and webserver certificate file (server.crt) that can be used on Apache server with mod_ssl.

Key, CSR and CRT File Naming Convention

Generate Ssl Certificate Online

I typically like to name the files with the domain name of the HTTPS URL that will be using this certificate. This makes it easier to identify and maintain.

  • Instead of server.key, I use www.thegeekstuff.com.key
  • Instead of server.csr, I use www.thegeekstuff.com.csr
  • Instead of server.crt, I use www.thegeekstuff.com.crt

1. Generate Private Key on the Server Running Apache + mod_ssl

First, generate a private key on the Linux server that runs Apache webserver using openssl command as shown below.

The generated private key looks like the following.

2. Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)

Using the key generate above, you should generate a certificate request file (csr) using openssl as shown below.

Generate Ssl Certificate Key File

3. Generate a Self-Signed SSL Certificate

For testing purpose, you can generate a self-signed SSL certificate that is valid for 1 year using openssl command as shown below.


You can use this method to generate Apache SSL Key, CSR and CRT file in most of the Linux, Unix systems including Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Fedora and Red Hat.

4. Get a Valid Trial SSL Certificate (Optional)

Instead of signing it youself, you can also generate a valid trial SSL certificate from thawte. i.e Before spending the money on purchasing a certificate, you can also get a valid fully functional 21 day trial SSL certificates from Thawte. Once this valid certificate works, you can either decide to purchase it from Thawte or any other SSL signing organization.

This step is optional and not really required. For testing purpose, you can always use the self-signed certificate that was generated from the above step.

Go to Thwate trial certificate request page and do the following:

  • Select “SSL Web Server Certificate (All servers)” under the “select your trial certificate”.
  • Do not check the PKCS #7 check-box under the “configure certificate”
  • Copy/Paste the *.csr file that you generate above in the textbox under “certificate signing request (CSR)”
  • Click on next at the bottom, which will give you a 21-day free trial certificate.


Copy/Paste the trial certificate to the www.thegeekstuff.com.crt file as shown below.

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