What Is PKI Certificate Store

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∟What Is PKI Certificate Store

This section describes what is PKI Certificate Store - a database used by a computer system or software to securely store PKI certificates and related information.

What Is PKI Certificate Store? A PKI certificate store usually refers to a database used by a computer system or software to securely store PKI certificates and related information. Here are some commonly used PKI certificate stores:

1. Windows Certificate Stores - Used by Windows operating systems to store PKI certificates. Windows Certificate Stores offers one instance for each user and one global instance shared by all users. PKI certificates are divided into multiple categories in each certificate store instance.

2. macOS KeyChains - Used by macOS operating systems to store PKI certificates. macOS KeyChains also offers one instance for each user and one global instance shared by all users.

3. Linux Truststores - Used by Linux operating systems to store PKI certificates. Linux Truststores are usually located in the /etc/pki/ca-trust directory.

4. Java KeyStores - Used by Android operating systems and Java applications to store PKI certificates. Each Java KeyStore is a single binary file and can be accessed by the Java "keytool" program or Java API. Older Java KeyStore files use JKS (Java KeyStore) format, and newer ones use PKCS12 format.

5. PEM Certificate Bundle (*.pem) Files - Used by many Linux applications to store PKI certificates. Each bundle file stores multiple PKI certificates sequentially in PEM format and separated by the "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----" and "-----END CERTIFICATE-----" delimiter lines.

6. PKCS12 Certificate Bundle (*.p12) Files - Newer versions of Java applications use PKCS12 certificate bundles to store trusted root CA certificate. Some CAs use PKCS12 certificate bundles to transfer certificate chains. Each PKCS12 file can store multiple certificates, optionally including private/public key pairs.