Implementing a PKI, Part III: Managing Microsoft Certification Services - Certification Authority Management

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You may find the certification management console at:

Start -> All Programs -> Administrative tools -> Certification Authority

Through CA’s console you can manage the following procedures:

1. Pending Requests. When a user requests a certificate, his / her request will be taken to this section. After evaluating the provided authentication information, the administrator will decide on the trustworthiness of the user and whether to issue the digital certificate or not.
   
   By right–clicking on the request at the Pending Certificates folder on the right pane of the console, you have the option to issue or deny the certificate. Based on the evaluation, you could choose one of the two options.
   
   
2. Issued Certificates. All the digital certificates that are issued by your CA server will appear in this section. If you need to revoke a certificate, select it, right-click on it, select All tasks and then Revoke.
   
   
3. Revoked Certificates. In several cases it may be required to revoke a digital certificate in order to maintain the integrity of your PKI; for example, revocation occurs when an employee leaves the organization or when a user loses his / her private key, or if the private key is compromised. Every time you revoke a certificate, it is added to the CA’s Certificate Revocation List (CRL). I believe that this functionality is vital for maintaining the security achieved through the usage of digital certificates, thus this subject will be discussed in detail in a later section.
   
   
4. Failed Requests. In cases where the provided information was inadequate or the trustworthiness of the client cannot be verified, the administrator rejects the request. If you want to issue the certificate at a later time, right-click on the request, select All tasks and then select Issue.

On the right pane of the console you may see several attributes such as the request id, revocation date, requester name, binary certificate etc., depending on the option you choose (Pending, Issued, Revoked or Failed).

The following figure presents a snapshot of the Certification Authority console.

Next: Certificate Revocation List (CRL) publication >>
 

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