PingAuthorize

Replacing the server certificate

Whether the server was set up with self-signed or certificate authority (CA)-signed certificates, the steps to replace the server certificate are nearly identical.

About this task

This task makes the following assumptions:

  • You are replacing the self-signed server certificate.

  • The certificate alias is server-cert.

  • The private key is stored in keystore.

  • The trusted certificates are stored in truststore.

  • The keystore and truststore use the Java KeyStore (JKS) format.

    If a PKCS#12 keystore format was used for the keystore and truststore files during setup, change the --keystore-type argument in the manage-certificate commands to PKCS12 in the relevant steps.

While the certificate is being replaced, existing secure connections continue to work. If you restart the server, or if a topology change requires a reset of peer connections, the server continues authenticating with its peers, all of whom trust the new certificate.

To replace the server certificate with no downtime, perform the following steps:

Steps

  1. Prepare a new keystore with the replacement key pair.

  2. Import the earlier trusted certificates into the new truststore file.

  3. Update the server configuration to use the new certificate by adding it to the server’s list of listener certificates in the topology registry.

    Result:

    Other servers will trust the certificate.

  4. Replace the server’s keystore and truststore files with the new ones.

  5. Retire the previous certificate by removing it from the topology registry.

Next steps

The following sections describe these tasks in more detail.