KB ID 0001206 

Problem

If you want to use digital certificates on your CentOS server, then you will need to generate a CSR. It does not matter if you want to purchase a publicly signed certificate, or even if you are going to sign your own. Below is how to generate a CSR for a single web host.

Note: Most cert vendors now require a minimum key length of 2048 so thats what I’m going to use. And I’m assuming you have openSSL installed (type ‘openssl version‘ to find out). 

Solution

Execute the following command

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[root@WebHost ~]# openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout www.YourSite.com.key -out www.YourSite.com.csr

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The CSR Generation process will begin and you will have to answer some questions;

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Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
.........................................+++
........................+++
writing new private key to 'www.YourSite.com.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]:GB
State or Province Name (full name) []:Teesside
Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]:Middlesbrough
Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]:YourSite
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:YourSite
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []:www.YourSite.com
Email Address []:administrator@YourSite.com

Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []:password123
An optional company name []:YourSite

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This will actually create the CSR, now you need to get the text from the CSR, and sent it to your certificate vendor ,or sign it with your own CA.

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[root@WebHost ~]# cat www.YourSite.com.csr
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----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-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
[root@WebHost ~]#

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