Certificates and Authentication
Appendix
B
Introduction to Public-Key Cryptography
257
In Figure B-7, the Engineering CA certificate contains the DN of the CA (that is,
USA CA), that issued that certificate. USA CA’s DN is also the subject name of
the next certificate in the chain.
•
Each certificate is signed with the private key of its issuer. The signature can be
verified with the public key in the issuer’s certificate, which is the next
certificate in the chain.
In Figure B-7, the public key in the certificate for the USA CA can be used to
verify the USA CA’s digital signature on the certificate for the Engineering CA.
Verifying a Certificate Chain
Certificate chain verification is the process of making sure a given certificate chain
is well-formed, valid, properly signed, and trustworthy. Netscape software uses
the following procedure for forming and verifying a certificate chain, starting with
the certificate being presented for authentication:
1.
The certificate validity period is checked against the current time provided by
the verifier’s system clock.
2.
The issuer's certificate is located. The source can be either the verifier’s local
certificate database (on that client or server) or the certificate chain provided by
the subject (for example, over an SSL connection).
3.
The certificate signature is verified using the public key in the issuer's
certificate.
4.
If the issuer's certificate is trusted by the verifier in the verifier's certificate
database, verification stops successfully here. Otherwise, the issuer's certificate
is checked to make sure it contains the appropriate subordinate CA indication
in the Netscape certificate type extension, and chain verification returns to step
1 to start again, but with this new certificate. Figure B-8 presents an example of
this process.
Summary of Contents for NETSCAPE CONSOLE 6.0 - MANAGING SERVERS
Page 1: ...Managing Servers with Netscape Console Netscape Console Version6 0 December 2001 ...
Page 18: ...Getting Additional Help 18 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 20: ...20 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 40: ...Uninstallation 40 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 42: ...42 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 80: ...Working with Netscape Servers 80 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 110: ...110 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 118: ...The Netscape Administration Page 118 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 166: ...166 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 208: ...Using Client Authentication 208 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 226: ...Using the Windows NT SNMP Service 226 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 228: ...228 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 264: ...Managing Certificates 264 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 280: ...The SSL Handshake 280 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...
Page 302: ...302 Managing Servers with Netscape Console December 2001 ...