Very good instructions here. Thanks Antoine!

Certificate Authority

A Certificate Authority or Certification Authority (CA) is an entity which issues digital certificates for use by other parties.  For more information on Certificate Athorities, visit the wikipedia article found here.

This documentation uses variables denoted with a $ followed by a keyword, all this emphasized with red text (i.e. $variable).  These variables should be replaced with appropriate values.  Suggested default values are denoted with a variable followed by an equal sign and a value (i.e $variable = value).

Create a Certificate Authority (CA)

1. Change your working directory to /etc/pki/CA
   cd /etc/pki/CA
2. Create a certificate authority good for ten years
   openssl req -config openssl.cnf -new -x509 -extensions v3_ca -keyout private/ca.key -out certs/ca.crt -days 3650
   Enter PEM pass phrase: $password
   Re-Enter PEM pass phrase: $password
   Country Name: $country
   State or Province Name: $state
   Locality Name: $city
   Organization Name: $company
   Organizational Unit Name: $department = Certificate Authority
   Common Name: ca.$domain
   Email Address: ca@$domain
3. Restrict access to the private key so that only root can read it
   chmod 0400 private/ca.key