Add a Device Certificate
A device certificate (or SSL certificate) is a digital certificate that provides proof of the device's identity (Belden Horizon Data Operations instance). A device certificate for your Belden Horizon Data Operations instance is not required as the connection is already secured with an automatically generated self-signed certificate. Refer to the Self-Signed Certificates and Device Certificates sections in Certificates for more information.
You can add a device certificate by navigating to System > Certificates.
Before You Begin
Before you complete the steps below, make sure you do the following.
- Verify you have admin credentials for Belden Horizon Data Operations.
- Have access to a Linux system.
- Verify that the the certificate you upload is an Nginx certificate.
- Submit the Certificate Signing Request in Belden Horizon Data Operations to a certificate authority and subsequently receive the device certificate with all required parameters (CA Chain and Private Key). See Manage Certificate Signing Requests for details.
- Confirm with your IT department if you require a custom CA certificate to be uploaded to Belden Horizon Data Operations before you add a device certificate. If you need to upload a custom CA certificate, see Add a Custom CA Certificate for details.
Step 1: Create a Backup of Your Device
You will first need to create a backup of your device in case you need to recover its configuration settings.
Follow the steps to Backup a Device.
Step 2: Generate Key Certificates
You will need to collect the following parameters to create the device certificate.
- SSL Certificate: The public key certificate associated with the device certificate. You will receive the SSL certificate from the certificate authority after submitting the Belden Horizon Data Operations certificate signing request.
- CA Chain: The certificate authority's chain of certificates that validates the device certificate's public and private keys. When validating this parameter, make sure it includes all intermediate certificate authorities.
- Private Key: The private key certificate associated with the device certificate. You will receive the private key from the certificate authority after submitting the Belden Horizon Data Operations certificate signing request. To successfully submit the private key, ensure the following:
- The private key is an RSA private key. If the private key is not RSA, you will need to convert it using openssl. You can use the following command: openssl rsa -in <old_file_name> -out <new_file>.
- The private key is not encrypted. If the private key is encrypted, follow up with your IT department to decrypt it.
The steps below are an example to generate certificates locally. You can obtain them from your organization’s IT department.
Note: This action must be performed in a Linux system outside Belden Horizon Data Operations.
To generate key certificates:
- Log in to a Linux system.
- Enter the following command: docker run --name servercerts -v /Users/Projects/docs/data/certificates/cert:/certs -e CA_EXPIRE=365 -e SSL_EXPIRE=365 -e SSL_KEY=server-key.pem -e SSL_CERT=server-cert.pem -e SSL_CSR=server.csr -e SSL_SUBJECT=localhost paulczar/omgwtfssl
- Open the private key file in an editor of your choice to check if the key file is RSA. The first line should look like this: -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----
Step 3: Add the Device Certificate
You will now need to add the device certificate in Belden Horizon Data Operations.
To add a device certificate:
- Navigate to System > Certificates.
- From the Certificates pane, select the Device Certificate tab.
Click the Add icon.
The Add Certificates dialog box appears.
Add device certificate icon- For SSL Certificate, CA Chain, and Private Key fields, do one of the following:
Click the Upload icon and select the certificate/key file.
Upload icon- Paste the certificate/key into the field.
- Click Submit.
Step 4: Restart the System
The final step is to restart the system and verify the certificate appears in the Certificates pane.
To restart the system:
- From the Certificates pane, navigate to System > Device Management. The Device Management pane appears.
- From the Manage section, click Reboot. The system reboots.
- Once the system has restarted, log in and navigate to System > Certificates. Verify the certificate appears in the Certificates pane.