Linux Mail Server Setup and Howto Guide

To use SSL or TLS to encrypt SMTP, POP3, IMAP or HTTP connections requires an SSL certificate. This article describes how to generate your own self signed SSL certificate. A self signed certificate will not cost you any money, but the certificate will not be automatically accepted as trusted by the email client or web browser.

1. Install the SSL certificate and key management utilities using the command below.

yum install crypto-utils

2. Start the key generation utility using the command below.

genkey --days 365 mail.acme.local

Replace 365 with the number of days you want the certificate to be valid and mail.acme.local with your own domain name.

3. Click Next in the Keypair generation screen.

4. Click Next in the Choose key size screen.

5. It will now generate the random bits for the private key.

6. In the Generate CSR screen, select No.

7. Fill in the details for your certificate and click Next.

8. In the Protecting your private key screen, click Next.

Visit the forum to ask for help or to give a comment.

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Posted on 4/25/2010 and last updated on 8/8/2010
Filed under SSL/TLS