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Cisco Meraki Documentation

Creating an Offline Certificate Request in Windows Server

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EAP-TLS, PEAP-MSCHAPv2, LDAP/TLS require a digital certificate be installed on your RADIUS server. The certificate provides authentication, encryption, and validation. Follow the steps below to create an offline certificate request on your Windows server when obtaining a certificate from a commercial or standalone Certificate Authority.

Launch the Certificate Console

1. Log into your Windows server running IAS or NPS (RADIUS Server). 

2. Launch the Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe).

3. Select File menu > Add/Remove Snap-in.

File menu location of the Add/Remove Snap-in... option within Microsoft Management Console.

 

4. Choose Certificates from Available Snap-ins and click Add.

Select "Certificates" from the "Available snap-ins" pane on the left, select the "Add" button to add it to the "Selected snap-ins" in the pane on the right. This will launch a wizard.

 

5. Choose Computer account for snap-in management and click Next.

Computer account option location on certificates snap-in.

 

6. Choose Local computer to use the snap-in on the current computer and click Finish.

Local computer option location within the certificates snap-in wizard.

 

7. When back at the Add or Remove Snap-ins click OK.

Select "Ok" button after certificates snap-in has been moved to the right side pane.

 

Create an Offline Certificate Request

1. From the Certificate manager console, navigate to Certificates (Local Computer) > Personal > Certificates. Right click Certificates and navigate to All tasks > Advanced options and select Create custom request.

Location of "Create custom request" in menus.

 

2. The Certificate Enrollment Wizard will open. Review the Before You Begin section and click Next.

"The following steps will help you install certificates, which are digital credentials used to connect to wireless networks, protect content, establish identity, and do other security-related tasks. Before requesting a certificate, verify the following: your computer is connected to the network You are logged into the domain for your organization."

 

3. Leave the default "No template" option for Custom request and click Next.

(No Template) CNG key selected. Next button highlighted.

 

4. On Certificate Information, expand Details then click the Properties button.

Expand details highlighted. Properties button highlighted, seen after expanding details.

 

5. When Certificate Properties opens to the General tab, fill out the Friendly name and Description values. These values are not required but are useful to distinguishing your certificate among other installed certificates.

Certificate properties, general tab highlighting fields to be filled out. Example text of 802.1x Certificate input into "Friendly name" and "Description" fields.

 

6. Select the Subject tab. Add values to the Subject name and Alternative name attributes. To add the attributes, select an attribute Type from the drop down, enter the correct Value and then click Add. 

Below are the values that should be filled out:

  • Subject name
    • Common name: Fully Qualified Domain Name of your RADIUS server host. Most Commercial CA's require the host to have a public top-level domain such as .com or .net, e.g. myserver.mydomain.com. (required)
    • Organizational Unit: Depends on your organization but this could be your department. (optional)
    • Organization: Your organization name. (optional)
    • Locality: Your city, this cannot be abbreviated. (optional)
    • State: Your state, this cannot be abbreviated. (optional)
    • Country: Your country. (optional)
  • Alternative name:
    • DNS: Fully Qualified Domain Name of your RADIUS server host. Most Commercial CA's require the host to have a public top-level domain such as .com or .net, e.g. myserver.mydomain.com. (required)

Certificate properties, Subject tab shows options present. Options are found under dropdown menus for the "Subject name" and "Alternative name" panes on the left, and a preview of the information is highlighted on the right.

 

7. Select the Extensions tab, expand Key usage, select Digital signature and Key encipherment from the Available options and click Add to place in Selected options. The Make these key usages critical box is checked by default.

Certificate properties extensions tab showing "Key usage" section expanded. Digital signature and Key encipherment have been added and are highlighted on the right pane.

 

8. On the Extensions tab, expand Extended Key Usage (application policies), select Server Authentication and optionally Client Authentication from the Available options and click Add to place in Selected options.

Certificate properties extensions tab, with "Extended Key Usage (application policies)" expanded. "Server Authentication" is required to add, "Client Authentication" is optional.

 

9. Select the Private Key tab. Expand Cryptographic Service Provider. For Select cryptographic service provider, make sure RSA, Microsoft Software Key Storage Provider is the only boxed checked. Expand Key options and select 2048 in the Key size drop down.

Certificate properties, Private Key tab. Expanded "Cryptographic Service Provider" to select "RSA, Microsoft Software Key Storage Provide" is only option checked with "Key options: Key size" set to 2048 from dropdown.

 

10. On the Private Key tab, expand Select Hash Algorithm. For the Hash Algorithm drop down, select sha1 which is the only e hashing compatible dynamic keying and then click OK.

Hashing algorithm set to SHA1 and Ok button highlighted.

 

11. On the "Where do you want to save the offline request?", give your certificate request file a name and save it to a location on your computer. In the example below, the certificate request file is named certreq711 and it is saved at the root of  C:. Make sure the File format is set to Base 64 and then click Finish.

Save file name location and format highlighted.

 

12. After creating your certificate request, you will need to submit it to a Certificate Authority so they can process your request and issue a certificate. The certificate request is a text file. Usually, you are required to copy the text from the file and enter it into an online submission form on the Certificate Authority website. You will need to contact your Certificate Authority directly for instructions on the process for submitting your certificate request. 

 

Follow the certificate request submission instructions provided by your Certificate Authority. Once your CA has processed your request and issues the certificate, download it to your server so it can be imported. Once your CA has provided you the certificate, please refer to Microsoft documentation for instructions on how to import the certificate.