Exporting and Import Certificates

This section provides a tutorial example on how to use the 'keytool -export' and 'keytool -import' commands to export and import the self-signed certificate from a key entry in a 'keystore' file.

In the second example, I want to export the certificate stored in the key entry to a certificate file, then import it back into the keystore as certificate entry:

herong> keytool -export -alias my_home -file my_home.crt \
   -keystore herong.jks -storepass HerongJKS
Certificate stored in file <my_home.crt>

herong> keytool -printcert -file my_home.crt
Owner: CN=Herong Yang, OU=My Unit, O=My Home, L=My City, ST=My Sta...
Issuer: CN=Herong Yang, OU=My Unit, O=My Home, L=My City, ST=My St...
Serial number: 407928a4
Valid from: Sat Jun 1 07:14:44 EDT 2002 until: Sat Aug 31 07:14:44...
Certificate fingerprints:
   MD5:  BE:D2:AF:4E:A7:44:13:08:16:4C:68:3B:D1:99:79:55
   SHA1: AE:67:0C:C5:21:5C:F6:6F:45:33:9E:FB:8E:50:EA:32:32:D1:92:BB

herong> keytool -import -alias my_home_crt -file my_home.crt \
   -keystore herong.jks -storepass HerongJKS
Certificate already exists in keystore under alias <my_home>
Do you still want to add it? [no]:  yes
Certificate was added to keystore

herong> keytool -list -keystore herong.jks -storepass HerongJKS

Keystore type: jks
Keystore provider: SUN

Your keystore contains 2 entries:

my_home_crt, Sat Jun 1 12:25:46 EDT 2004, trustedCertEntry,
Certificate fingerprint (MD5): BE:D2:AF:4E:A7:44:13:08:16:4C:68:3B...
my_home, Sat Jun 1 07:15:16 EDT 2002, keyEntry,
Certificate fingerprint (MD5): BE:D2:AF:4E:A7:44:13:08:16:4C:68:3B...

Looking good so far:

Certificates can also be exported in a printable format: based on RFC 1421 specification, using the BASE64 encoding algorithm.

herong> keytool -export -alias my_home_crt -file my_home.rfc -rfc \
   -keystore herong.jks -storepass HerongJKS
Certificate stored in file <my_home.rfc>

type my_home.rfc
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIDDTCCAssCBEB5KKQwCwYHKoZIzjgEAwUAMGwxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMREwDwYDVQ...
dGF0ZTEQMA4GA1UEBxMHTXkgQ2l0eTEQMA4GA1UEChMHTXkgSG9tZTEQMA4GA1UECx...
dDEUMBIGA1UEAxMLSGVyb25nIFlhbmcwHhcNMDQwNDExMTExNDQ0WhcNMDQwNzEwMT...
MQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzERMA8GA1UECBMITXkgU3RhdGUxEDAOBgNVBAcTB015IENpdH...
BAoTB015IEhvbWUxEDAOBgNVBAsTB015IFVuaXQxFDASBgNVBAMTC0hlcm9uZyBZYW...
ASwGByqGSM44BAEwggEfAoGBAP1/U4EddRIpUt9KnC7s5Of2EbdSPO9EAMMeP4C2US...
WT2NWPq/xfW6MPbLm1Vs14E7gB00b/JmYLdrmVClpJ+f6AR7ECLCT7up1/63xhv4O1...
+4P208UewwI1VBNaFpEy9nXzrith1yrv8iIDGZ3RSAHHAhUAl2BQjxUjC8yykrmCou...
gYEA9+GghdabPd7LvKtcNrhXuXmUr7v6OuqC+VdMCz0HgmdRWVeOutRZT+ZxBxCBgL...
FhO3zwkyjMim4TwWeotUfI0o4KOuHiuzpnWRbqN/C/ohNWLx+2J6ASQ7zKTxvqhRkI...
BpKLZl6Ae1UlZAFMO/7PSSoDgYUAAoGBAJdQsMlIf1nh4T/HZvVeltsrTGED118CkG...
ygy53OLwrSK+6ptJpXP8tPMn9YFVJ3eigJrMTaZvGyd40WRiYM6Woyj3T4H73LEKLD...
QeNYOAm8cp3l9ZQkNnmIA1P6CRR43EeAmdTUlK8y6RWTsrOiJMdDMAsGByqGSM44BA...
AhQ4zAUOPWe1wdiwye9XDsVPcKS1xwIUWTdok6RIeeCMRIytKwcTOo7/qpM=
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Cryptography Terminology

 Cryptography Basic Concepts

 Introduction to AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)

 Introduction to DES Algorithm

 DES Algorithm - Illustrated with Java Programs

 DES Algorithm Java Implementation

 DES Algorithm - Java Implementation in JDK JCE

 DES Encryption Operation Modes

 DES in Stream Cipher Modes

 PHP Implementation of DES - mcrypt

 Blowfish - 8-Byte Block Cipher

 Secret Key Generation and Management

 Cipher - Secret Key Encryption and Decryption

 Introduction of RSA Algorithm

 RSA Implementation using java.math.BigInteger Class

 Introduction of DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm)

 Java Default Implementation of DSA

 Private key and Public Key Pair Generation

 PKCS#8/X.509 Private/Public Encoding Standards

 Cipher - Public Key Encryption and Decryption

 MD5 Mesasge Digest Algorithm

 SHA1 Mesasge Digest Algorithm

 OpenSSL Introduction and Installation

 OpenSSL Generating and Managing RSA Keys

 OpenSSL Managing Certificates

 OpenSSL Generating and Signing CSR

 OpenSSL Validating Certificate Path

"keytool" and "keystore" from JDK

 Certificates and Certificate Chains

 What Is "keystore"?

 "keytool" - Command Line Tool

 Generating Private Keys

Exporting and Import Certificates

 Generating CSR (Certificate Signing Request)

 Cloning Certificates with New Identities

 "OpenSSL" Signing CSR Generated by "keytool"

 Migrating Keys from "keystore" to "OpenSSL" Key Files

 Certificate X.509 Standard and DER/PEM Formats

 Migrating Keys from "OpenSSL" Key Files to "keystore"

 Using Certificates in IE

 Using Certificates in Google Chrome

 Using Certificates in Firefox

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB