Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) -
IBM Lotus Domino 6, 7 or 8

The CSR needs to contain the following attributes:

- Country Name (C): Use the two-letter code without punctuation for country, for example: US or CA.
- State or Province (S): Spell out the state completely; do not abbreviate the state or province name, for example: California.
- Locality or City (L): The Locality field is the city or town name, for example: Berkeley.
- Organization (O): If your company or department has an &, @, or any other symbol using the shift key in its name, you must spell out the symbol or omit it to enroll, for example: XY & Z Corporation would be XYZ Corporation or XY and Z Corporation.
- Organizational Unit (OU): This field is the name of the department or organization unit making the request.
- Common Name (CN): The Common Name is the Host + Domain Name. It looks like "www.company.com" or "company.com".

Note: SSL certificates can only be used on Web servers using the Common Name specified during enrollment. For example, a certificate for the domain "domain.com" will receive a warning if accessing a site named "www.domain.com" or "secure.domain.com", because "www.domain.com" and "secure.domain.com" are different from "domain.com".

To generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) file using IBM Lotus Domino 6, 7, or 8 server, follow the steps below:

Before you request a certificate from a CA, you must create a key ring file to store the certificates. A key ring file is a binary file that is password-protected and stored on the server's hard drive. When you create a server key ring file (.KYR), IBM® Lotus® Domino™ generates an unsigned server certificate and automatically includes several trusted root certificates. The unsigned server certificate is not valid until it is signed by a certifier. Domino also creates a stash file (.STH) using the same name as the key ring file, but with the file extension .STH. Domino uses the stash file to store the key ring file password for unattended access to the server key ring file.

Every server certificate includes a distinguished name used for SSL connections. You set up this distinguished name when you create the server key ring file. Some components of a distinguished name are optional; however, the more components you include, the less likely you are to encounter an identical name elsewhere on the Internet.

Note: If you are requesting a server certificate from a server-based certification authority, you can use the IBM® Lotus® Notes® client to create the server key ring and request a server certificate in the Certificate Requests database.

Step 1: To create a server key ring file

1. Set up the Server Certificate Admin application.

2. From the Lotus Notes client, open the Server Certificate Admin application on the server for which you want to enable SSL.

3. Click "Create Key Ring."

4. Complete these fields:

5. Click "Create Key Ring."

6. After you read the information about the key ring file and distinguished name, click OK. Lotus Notes creates the key ring file and stash (.STH) file and places them in the Lotus Notes data directory on the client machine used to create the key ring.

7. Copy the key ring file and stash (.STH) file to the Domino data directory on the server.

Caution: You must ensure that the key ring password in the stash file is protected. The key ring file password is altered in the stash file so that it cannot be recognized by a casual observer, but it is not encrypted. You should not allow unauthorized persons access to either the stash file or the key ring file. In the normal course of operation, only the server itself should have access to those files; however, administrators may also need permission to remove or replace the files. As with all server resources, managing proper file permissions and protections is vital to the security of the system.

Step 2: Requesting an SSL server certificate

1. From the Lotus Notes client, open the Server Certificate Admin application on server for which you want to set up SSL.

2. Click "Create Certificate Request."

3. Complete these fields:

4. Click "Create Certificate Request."

5. Enter the password for the server key ring file.

6. If you selected "Paste into form on CA's site" in Step 4, do the following:

Copy the certificate request to the system Clipboard (include the Begin Certificate and End Certificate lines).
Use a browser to visit the CA's site, and then follow the instructions that the CA's site provides for submitting a request for a new certificate.

For additional information, reference to IBM Lotus Domino server documentation (Click Security - SSL security - Setting up SSL on a Domino server).