Managing Certificates
Appendix
B
Introduction to Public-Key Cryptography
263
intervals and checking the list as part of the authentication process. For some
organizations, it may be preferable to check directly with the issuing CA each time
a certificate is presented for authentication. This procedure is sometimes called
real-time status checking.
Registration Authorities
Interactions between entities identified by certificates (sometimes called end
entities) and CAs are an essential part of certificate management. These
interactions include operations such as registration for certification, certificate
retrieval, certificate renewal, certificate revocation, and key backup and recovery.
In general, a CA must be able to authenticate the identities of end entities before
responding to the requests. In addition, some requests need to be approved by
authorized administrators or managers before being services.
As previously discussed, the means used by different CAs to verify an identity
before issuing a certificate can vary widely, depending on the organization and the
purpose for which the certificate will be used. To provide maximum operational
flexibility, interactions with end entities can be separated from the other functions
of a CA and handled by a separate service called a
Registration Authority
(RA).
An RA acts as a front end to a CA by receiving end entity requests, authenticating
them, and forwarding them to the CA. After receiving a response from the CA, the
RA notifies the end entity of the results. RAs can be helpful in scaling an PKI across
different departments, geographical areas, or other operational units with varying
policies and authentication requirements.
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 ...