Method for automated installation of digital certificates to network servers

• US 20050078830A1
• Filed: 08/13/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Imcentric Incorporated, Venafi,Inc.
• Original Assignee: Imcentric Incorporated
• Inventors: Thornton, Russell S., Seegmiller, Jayson, Hodson, Benjamin
• Application Number:
  US10/917,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20050078830A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/277
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/34 Encoding or coding, e.g. Huffman coding or error correction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/76 Proxy, i.e. using intermediary entity to perform cryptographic operations network architectures or network communication protocols using hop-by-hop encryption H04L63/0464
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response

Abstract

Disclosed herein are several digital certificate discovery and management systems. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for operating a centralized certificate installation system for automating the installation of digital certificates received from certificate authorities to a group of network servers, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a certificate signed by a certificate authority generated from a certificate signing request by way of the network interface,

identifying a destination network server corresponding to a received certificate signed by a certificate authority,

determining a network server type, said network server types providing at least the type of server software installed to the identified destination network server, and

performing a set of installation steps, the performed set of installation steps applicable to the determined network server type, the performance of the set of installation steps including the transferring of the received certificate to the destination network server by way of said network interface.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

operating an SMTP service;

receiving an e-mail message by the SMTP service, the e-mail message containing a certificate signed by a certificate authority;

parsing an e-mail message containing a certificate signed by a certificate authority to extract that certificate for installation.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a certificate signed by a certificate authority, and optionally after identifying a destination network server, notifying a person that the received certificate is ready to be installed; and

prior to performing the set of installation steps, receiving an approval indication from a person indicating that a certificate is to be installed.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for automated controlling of a network interface provided by a web server.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for automated controlling of a shell interface.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for transmission and installation of a certificate through a server agent program.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for restarting a destination server program.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for restarting a destination server computer.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for notifying an administrator to restart a destination server program or destination server computer.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of confirming the installation of a received certificate to a destination server following the performance of a set of installation steps.

11. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of generating an alert to an administrator if the installation of a received certificate to a destination server is not confirmed.

12. A method for operating a centralized certificate installation system for automating the installation of digital certificates received from certificate authorities to a group of network servers, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a certificate signed by a certificate authority generated from a certificate signing request by way of said network interface,

identifying a destination network server corresponding to a received certificate signed by a certificate authority,

determining a network server type, said network server types providing at least the type of server software installed to the identified destination network server, said determining being performed by retrieving a server type from a database having an entry for the identified destination network server;

performing a set of installation steps, the performed set of installation steps applicable to the determined network server type, the performance of the set of installation steps utilizing said authentication objects applicable to the destination network server, the performance of the set of installation steps including the transferring of the received certificate to the destination network server by way of the network interface; and

confirming the installation of a received certificate to a destination server following the performance of a set of installation steps.

13. A method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of automatically configuring a destination network server to support SSL operation.

14. A method according to claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

upon receiving a certificate signed by a certificate authority, and optionally after identifying a destination network server, notifying a person that the received certificate is ready to be installed; and

prior to performing the set of installation steps, receiving an approval indication from a person indicating that a certificate is to be installed.

15. A method according to claim 12, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for automated controlling of an interface selected from the group of network interfaces provided by a web server, a shell interface and server agent program interface.

16. A method according to claim 12, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for restarting a destination server program or destination server computer.

17. A method according to claim 12, wherein said performing a set of installation steps includes steps for notifying an administrator to restart a destination server program or destination server computer.

18. A method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of confirming the installation of a received certificate to a destination server following the performance of a set of installation steps.

19. A method for operating a centralized certificate installation system for automating the installation of digital certificates received from certificate authorities to a group of network servers, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a certificate signed by a certificate authority generated from a certificate signing request by way of said network interface,

identifying a destination network server corresponding to a received certificate signed by a certificate authority,

determining a network server type, said network server types providing at least the type of server software installed to the identified destination network server;

performing a set of installation steps, the performed set of installation steps applicable to the determined network server type, the performance of the set of installation steps utilizing authentication objects applicable to the destination network server, the performance of the set of installation steps including the transferring of the received certificate to the destination network server by way of said network interface;

the installation steps utilizing a protocol selected from the group of a shell interface, an agent interface and a network interface provided by a web interface of a web server;

configuring an identified destination managed server to use a private key corresponding to an installed certificate; and

performing a restart action selected from the group of commanding an identified destination managed server to perform a restart, commanding an identified destination managed server to restart and notifying an administrator to restart a destination server program or destination server computer; and

confirming the installation of a received certificate to a destination server following the performance of a set of installation steps.

20. A method of automatically installing digital certificates received from certificate authorities to a group of network servers, comprising:

providing a network computing device;

maintaining a database of authentication objects, each authentication object including at least one authentication token needed to permit the execution of a set of certificate installation steps to the group of network servers;

receiving a certificate signed by a certificate authority generated from a certificate signing request;

identifying a destination network server corresponding to a received certificate signed by a certificate authority;

determining a network server type, said network server types providing at least the type of server software installed to the identified destination network server;

performing a set of installation steps, the performed set of installation steps applicable to the determined network server type;

transferring the received certificate to the destination network server;

following said performing and said transferring, confirming the installation of a received certificate to a destination server following the performance of the set of installation steps; and

alerting an administrator if the confirmation of the installation of a received certificate to a destination server fails.