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Retiring Certficate Authority

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Subject Author Date
Retiring Certficate Authority Tim C 05-21-2008
Posted by Tim C on May 21, 2008, 5:14 pm
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Server1A is a Win 2003 SP2 Enterprise domain controller and certificate
authority.

I need to completely rebuild Server1A as ServerB2. I cannot use the same
name as before, so I cannot "move" the CA to the rebuilt machine as described
in KB298138. I will create a new certificate on rebuilt ServerB2 or on
another server.

There was a 9/23/04 posting by Shawn Corey [MSFT] which said that when a CA
is removed, "it leaves behind its cert and the last CRL published [in Active
Directory] to allow clients to use their certs till they expire if they were
not revoked."

This tells me that I can pull out the old CA without affecting the
functioning of my existing certificates, and build a new CA for issuing new
ones. But none of the other discussions I’ve found mention this alternative.

Does this work or not?

Thanks,
Tim C
MCSE, etc.


Posted by bdo on May 21, 2008, 6:52 pm
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From what I know, you will at the very least have problems with all of
the old certificates becoming invalid when Server1A ceases to issue
updated CRL's and it's most recent CRL expires. I am not sure if there
is some way to transfer the private key over to the new server, given
the change in server name.


--
bdo
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Posted by Tim C on May 22, 2008, 9:38 am
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But what if I change the CRL publication interval to 2 years? Then the next
published CRL will not expire until 2010. Would that then allow me to take
down my CA and rely on the root certificate and CRL published in Active
Directory to keep my current certificates working properly?

(All of these certificates are used by web servers in temporary testing and
development environments, and only exist to replicate conditions in our
production environment. Revocation isn't an issue. I'm just hoping to avoid
recreating 200 of them.)

Thanks,
Tim C

"bdo" wrote:

>
> From what I know, you will at the very least have problems with all of
> the old certificates becoming invalid when Server1A ceases to issue
> updated CRL's and it's most recent CRL expires. I am not sure if there
> is some way to transfer the private key over to the new server, given
> the change in server name.
>
>
> --
> bdo
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> bdo's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=50025
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=972760
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>
>

Posted by Brian Komar \(MVP\) on May 22, 2008, 12:53 pm
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But what does your CPS state regarding CRL publication intervals.
Technically, it will work.
Policy wise, not a chance.
Brian

> But what if I change the CRL publication interval to 2 years? Then the
> next
> published CRL will not expire until 2010. Would that then allow me to
> take
> down my CA and rely on the root certificate and CRL published in Active
> Directory to keep my current certificates working properly?
>
> (All of these certificates are used by web servers in temporary testing
> and
> development environments, and only exist to replicate conditions in our
> production environment. Revocation isn't an issue. I'm just hoping to
> avoid
> recreating 200 of them.)
>
> Thanks,
> Tim C
>
> "bdo" wrote:
>
>>
>> From what I know, you will at the very least have problems with all of
>> the old certificates becoming invalid when Server1A ceases to issue
>> updated CRL's and it's most recent CRL expires. I am not sure if there
>> is some way to transfer the private key over to the new server, given
>> the change in server name.
>>
>>
>> --
>> bdo
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> bdo's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=50025
>> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=972760
>>
>> http://forums.techarena.in
>>
>>


Posted by Tim C on May 22, 2008, 2:13 pm
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Brian,

Stupid question. What is CPS?

Thanks,
Tim C

"Brian Komar (MVP)" wrote:

> But what does your CPS state regarding CRL publication intervals.
> Technically, it will work.
> Policy wise, not a chance.
> Brian
>
> > But what if I change the CRL publication interval to 2 years? Then the
> > next
> > published CRL will not expire until 2010. Would that then allow me to
> > take
> > down my CA and rely on the root certificate and CRL published in Active
> > Directory to keep my current certificates working properly?
> >
> > (All of these certificates are used by web servers in temporary testing
> > and
> > development environments, and only exist to replicate conditions in our
> > production environment. Revocation isn't an issue. I'm just hoping to
> > avoid
> > recreating 200 of them.)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Tim C
> >
> > "bdo" wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> From what I know, you will at the very least have problems with all of
> >> the old certificates becoming invalid when Server1A ceases to issue
> >> updated CRL's and it's most recent CRL expires. I am not sure if there
> >> is some way to transfer the private key over to the new server, given
> >> the change in server name.
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> bdo
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------


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