Problems with Creating a self-signed Certificate

Question

hi,
I read the keytool Documentation and wanted to create my own self-signed certificate.
ok, I followed the steps :
1) keytool -keyclone -alias origkey -dest my_key
2) keytool -selfcert -alias my_key -dname "cn=Stefan Gross, ou=Computers, o=notintersting, c=D"
3) keytool -certreq -alias my_key (output in mycert.cer)
4)keytool -certreq -alias my_key -sigalg X.509 -file newcert.cer
.. Password Input...
Keytool-Error: java.lang.Exception: Alias <my_key> does not exist.
But it exists, see :
[usr]$ keytool -list
Keystore-Typ: jks
Keystore-Provider: SUN
new_key, 06.05.2003, keyEntry,
So it exists, but why do I get the error ?
So far,
Stefan Gross

Answer 1

stefan hi,
i have tried to produce a certificate my_cert.cer and it went well. as far as i understood you have to create a keystore first. this keystore holds a key pair.
and then using the keystore you can create as many certificates as possible based on the key pair.
try following the steps below. it should work, i mean i have followed them and all was fine. you can find the original form of the following from documentation of keytool (sun).
hope this time it'll work, let me know.
cem.
note: the last step is importing the certificate to the keystore which is not necessary if you only want the certificate.
To set up a digital certificate,
Generate a key pair.
The keytool utility enables you to generate the key pair. The keytool utility that ships with the J2SE SDK programmatically adds a Java Cryptographic Extension provider that has implementations of RSA algorithms. This provider enables you to import RSA-signed certificates.
To generate the keystore file, run the keytool utility as follows, replacing <keystore_filename> with the name of your keystore file, for example, server.keystore. If you are using the Tomcat server, the file must either be named .keystore and located in the home directory of the machine on which Tomcat is running, or you will need to tell Tomcat where the kestore file is by adding a keystoreFile attribute to the <Factory> element in the Tomcat configuration file or by specifying the location of the file on the Connector (8443) node of admintool.
keytool -genkey -keyalg RSA -alias tomcat-server
-keystore <keystore_filename>
The keytool utility prompts you for the following information:
Keystore password--Enter the default password, which is changeit. Refer to the keytool documentation for information on changing the password.
First and last name--Enter the appropriate value, for example, JWSDP.
Organizational unit--Enter the appropriate value, for example, Java Web Services.
Organization--Enter the appropriate value, for example, Sun Microsystems.
City or locality--Enter the appropriate value, for example, Santa Clara.
State or province--Enter the unabbreviated name, for example, CA.
Two-letter country code--For the USA, the two-letter country code is US.
Review the information you've entered so far, enter Yes if it is correct.
Key password for the Web server--Do not enter a password. Press Return.
The next step is generate a signed certificate for this keystore. A self-signed certificate is acceptable for most SSL communication. If you are using a self-signed certificate, continue with Creating a Self-Signed Certificate. If you'd like to have your certificate digitally signed by a CA, continue with Obtaining a Digitally-Signed Certificate.
Creating a Self-Signed Certificate
This example assumes that the keystore is named server.keystore, the certificate file is server.cer, and the CA file is cacerts.jks. Run these commands in your <HOME> directory so that they are created there.
Export the server certificate to a certificate file:
keytool -keystore server.keystore -export -alias tomcat-server -file server.cer
Enter the password (changeit).
Keytool returns the following message:
Certificate stored in file <server.cer>
Import the new server certificate into the Certificate Authority file cacerts.jks:
keytool -import -alias serverCA -keystore <HOME>/cacerts.jks
-file server.cer
Enter the password (changeit).
Keytool returns a message similar to the following:
Owner: CN=JWSDP, OU=Java Web Services, O=Sun, L=Santa Clara,
ST=CA, C=US
Issuer: CN=JWSDP, OU=Java Web Services, O=Sun, L=Santa Clara,
ST=CA, C=US
Serial number: 3e39e3e0
Valid from: Thu Jan 30 18:48:00 PST 2003 until: Wed Apr 30 19:48:00 PDT 2003
Certificate fingerprints:
MD5: 44:89:AF:54:FE:79:66:DB:0D:BE:DC:15:A9:B6:09:84
SHA1:21:09:8A:F6:78:E5:C2:19:D5:FF:CB:DB:AB:78:9B:98:8D:06:8C:71
Trust this certificate? [no]: yes
Certificate was added to keystore
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