2.3.2 Signing the CSR

The next step is to submit this certificate request to the CA, which can then create a certificate and send it back to you.

If, for example, you use the CA CAcert, then you can log into your account at the CAcert website, choose “Client Certificates -> New”, check “Show advanced options”, paste the above request block into the text field and click on “Submit”. If everything works correctly, a certificate will be shown, which you can cut and paste into a new file floppy-head.crt.

Alternatively if, for example, you set up your own CA with OpenSSL, then you can create your own certificate by issueing a command similar openssl ca -in floppy-head.csr -cert snakeoil-ca-rsa.crt -keyfile snakeoil-ca-rsa.key -out floppy-head.crt. Please see the OpenSSL documentation for more details on how to set up and administrate a certificate authority infrastructure.