From Ryan Groom,
Your Guide to Business Security.
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In Part I showed you how to install a Certificate Server for use within an office environment. In this section we will discuss how to do something useful with it. Let’s look at the different ways we can get certificates off of our Certificate Authority. Once we have the certificates we can use them for such things as secure email and secure intranet (both of which will be covered in subsequent articles).

So, let’s get a certificate. There are two ways to do this. By using a custom MMC (Microsoft Management Console) or a web browser. Depending on your user’s technical prowess will let them decide which is better for them. Let’s start with the MMC. Although a little more complicated for the less experienced, it allows a lot more control over the process. To use the MMC, ensure you are logged in as the Administrator and:

• Click the big Windows “Start” button - Run – and type MMC.
• Press Enter.
• Open the File menu and select Add/Remove Snap-In.
• Press the Add button in the window.
• Select Certificates from the list and click Add. You will be presented with a Certificates popup. The popup wants to know what kind of certificate to issue (computer or user). Select My User Account. Click Finish.
• Expand Certificates - Current User - Personal.
• Right-click the Personal folder and select All Tasks - Request New Certificate.

Click here to view 'Request New Certificate' Screen

• In the Certificate Request wizard click Next.
• In the Certificates Type select User.

Click here to view 'Certificate Request Wizard' Screen

• Type a name for the certificate. Click Next. Click Finish.

You now have your very own certificate which would resemble the following:

Click here to view 'The Certificate' Screen

While not too difficult, there is another method that user’s can utilise and that is to use the Web Server we set up last time to use a web browser to request a certificate. Let’s take a look.

• Open Internet Explorer or Firefox.
• Enter http://YourServerName/Certserv in the address bar. YourServerName is the name of the computer running the Certificate Autority. Ask your administrator if you are not sure.
• Click Request a certificate. Then select User Certificate.
• Click Submit to pass it to the Certificate Authority and then click Install this certificate.

Click here to view 'Certificate Web Page' Screen

Click here to view 'Certificate Issued' Screen

All Done - Next Steps

That’s it. You now have your certificate. The trick now is to apply them. We will use S/MIME and SSL in our next two sections to show you how to work with your issued certificates. Off to issuing S/MIME Certificates.