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Digital Certificates

For small networks, the use of preshared keys in an IPSec configuration is often sufficient. However, as a network grows, it can become a challenge to add new preshared keys on the local routing platform and all new and existing IPSec peers. One solution for scaling an IPSec network is to use digital certificates.

A digital certificate implementation uses the public key infrastructure (PKI), which requires you to generate a key pair consisting of a public key and a private key. The keys are created with a random number generator and are used to encrypt and decrypt data. In networks that do not use digital certificates, an IPSec-enabled device encrypts data with the private key and IPSec peers decrypt the data with the public key.

With digital certificates, the key sharing process requires an additional level of complexity. First, you and your IPSec peers request a certificate authority (CA) to send you a CA certificate that contains the public key of the CA. Next, you request the CA to enroll a local digital certificate that contains your public key and some additional information. When the CA processes your request, it signs your local certificate with the private key of the CA. Then you install the CA certificate and the local certificate in your local routing platform and load the CA certificate in the remote devices before you can establish IPSec tunnels with your peers.

When you request a peering relationship with an IPSec peer, the peer receives a copy of your local certificate. Because the peer already has the CA certificate loaded, it can use the CA’s public key contained in the CA certificate to decrypt your local certificate that has been signed by the CA’s private key. As a result, the peer now has a copy of your public key. The peer encrypts data with your public key before sending it to you. When your local routing platform receives the data, it decrypts the data with your private key.

In the JUNOS software, you must implement the following steps to be able to initially use digital certificates:

Configure a CA profile to request CA and local digital certificates—The profile contains the name and URL of the CA or registration authority (RA), as well as some retry timer settings.
Configure Certificate Revocation List support—A certificate revocation list (CRL) contains a list of certificates canceled before their expiration date. When a participating peer uses a CRL, the CA acquires the most recently issued CRL and checks the signature and validity of a peer’s digital certificate. You can request and load CRLs manually, configure an LDAP server to handle CRL processing automatically, or disable CRL processing that is enabled by default.
Request a digital certificate from the CA—The request can be made either online or manually. Online CA digital certificate requests use the Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) format. If you request the CA certificate manually, you must also load the certificate manually.
Generate a private/public key pair—The public key is included in the local digital certificate and the private key is used to decrypt data received from peers.
Generate and enroll a local digital certificate—The local certificate can be processed online using SCEP or generated manually in the Public-Key Cryptography Standards #10 (PKCS-10) format. If you create the local certificate request manually, you must also load the certificate manually.
Apply the digital certificate to an IPSec configuration—To activate a local digital certificate, you configure the IKE proposal to use digital certificates instead of preshared keys, reference the local certificate in the IKE policy, and identify the CA in the service set.

Optionally, you can do the following:

Configure the digital certificate to automatically reenroll—Starting in JUNOS Release 8.5, you can configure automatic reenrollment for digital certificates.
Monitor digital certificate events and delete certificates and requests—You can issue operational mode commands to monitor IPSec tunnels established using digital certificates and delete certificates or requests.

For more details on managing digital certificates, configuring them in an IPSec service set, and monitoring and clearing them, see Option: Using Digital Certificates and Example: AS PIC IKE Dynamic SA with Digital Certificates Configuration.

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