How to use a third party cert for multiple servers

  • 7005481
  • 12-Mar-2010
  • 27-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell eDirectory 8.8 for All Platforms

Situation

Can a third party certificate be used on multiple servers?  If so, what is the process of creating and then using the certificate?

Resolution

Yes, a single third party certificate can be used for multiple servers but be careful in doing this.  It could be effectively used in a web server load-balancing situation but is not recommended for many other applications.

Note:****  This is assuming the third party vendor supports wild-card certificates for use on multiple servers.  Find out from the vendor if they support this option.

The process to go through would be much the same as creating a single CSR for a server.  One would create the CSR from one particular server, send it off to the third party vendor to mint the certificate with a wild-card so as to be used for multiple servers, and import that in for the server.  Then that certificate would need to be exported.  After it is exported, other servers can use this certificate by importing it.
Refer to KB 3033173  for additional information.