CSR Generation Instructions

The following instructions will guide you through the CSR generation process on Jetty Java HTTP Servlet Web Server. To learn more about CSRs and the importance of your private key, reference our Overview of Certificate Signing Request article. If you already generated the CSR and received your trusted SSL certificate, reference our SSL Installation Instructions and disregard the steps below.

  1. Generate a keystore and private key by running the following command:
    keytool -genkey -alias [enter_alias_name] -keyalg RSA -keystore [enter_keystore_name] -keysize 2048
  2. Enter a keystore password.

  3. Note: Java servers will use a default password unless you decide to change it by specifying a customer password in the server.xml configuration file.

  4. Enter the following CSR details when prompted:
    1. Common Name (CN): The FQDN (fully-qualified domain name) you want to secure with the certificate such as www.google.com, secure.website.org, *.domain.net, etc.
    2. Organization Name (ON): The full legal name of your organization including the corporate identifier.
    3. Organizational Unit (OU): Your department such as 'Information Technology' or ‘Website Security.’
    4. Locality or City (L): The locality or city where your organization is legally incorporated. Do not abbreviate.
    5. State or Province (S): The state or province where your organization is legally incorporated. Do not abbreviate.
    6. Country Name (C): The official two-letter country code (i.e. US, CH) where your organization is legally incorporated.
  5. Select Enter when prompted for the private key alias password.

  6. Note: This will set the private key password to the same password used for the keystore from Step 2. Please save the private key and keystore password. If lost, they cannot be retrieved and you’ll have to start over.

  7. Backup the keystore file, after creating the Keyentry, by accessing the following directory and saving the file somewhere safe in case of a system crash or failure.

  8. C:\WINNT\Profiles\Administrator\.keystore

    Or

    C:\Documents and Settings\your name\.keystore

  9. Generate a CSR off the Keyentry by running the following command:

  10. keytool -certreq -alias [alias_name] -file certreq.csr -keystore [keystore_name]

  11. Locate and open the newly created CSR in a text editor such as Notepad and copy all the text including:

  12. -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
    And
    -----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

  13. Return to the Generation Form on our website and paste the entire CSR into the blank text box and continue with completing the generation process.

Upon generating your CSR, your order will enter the validation process with the issuing Certificate Authority (CA) and require the certificate requester to complete some form of validation depending on the certificate purchased. For information regarding the different levels of the validation process and how to satisfy the industry requirements, reference our validation articles.

After you complete the validation process and receive the trusted SSL Certificate from the issuing Certificate Authority (CA), proceed with the next step using our SSL Installation Instructions for Jetty Java HTTP Servlet Web Server.