Contents

Introduction

Problem

Solution

Related Information

Introduction

This document describes how to generate and install a self-signed web certificate when the existing one is expired on an on-prem vManage. Cisco does not sign web certificates for such deployments, customers have to sign it by own Certificate Authority (CA) or some 3rd party CA.

Problem

vManage web certificate is going to expire or has already expired. Access to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) can be lost or you can see permanent alarm in GUI about certificate expired.

Solution

If you are not concerned about the security aspect of self-signed certificate usage and just want to avoid alarm message and possible problems with vManage GUI access due to expired certificate, then you can use this solution with self-signed web certificate on a vManage.

1. In the vManage GUI, navigate to Administration >Settings > Web Server Certificate > Certificate and then save this information somewhere about certificate subject, for example, Subject: CN=vmanage, OU=Cisco SDWAN, O=Cisco Systems, L=San Jose, ST=CA, C=US.

2. In the vManage GUI, navigate to  Administration >Settings > Web Server Certificate > CSR and select  Generate in order to generate a new Certificate Signing Request (CSR). Ensure you enter the values from the Subject that you captured on the previous step.

3. Copy newly generated CSR to the copy-paste buffer as shown in the image.

4. And then enter a vshell and paste buffer content with CSR into the file on the vManage with help of echo command.

vmanage#

vmanage# vshell

vmanage:~$ mkdir web

vmanage:~$ cd web

vmanage:~/web$ echo "-----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

> MIICsjCCAZoCAQAwbTELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxCzAJBgNVBAgTAkNBMREwDwYDVQQH

> EwhTYW4gSm9zZTEWMBQGA1UEChMNQ2lzY28gU3lzdGVtczEUMBIGA1UECxMLQ2lz

> Y28gU0RXQU4xEDAOBgNVBAMTB3ZtYW5hZ2UwggEiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IB

> DwAwggEKAoIBAQCRDdIKGUYuDwobn60PeDqfq96d+r5z66VQ8NBTBBhgwZgG57J7

> YIY9yNF5oSb+b1xUEXb61Wntq7qSHSzJhFDX0BaL4/c9llOQped3yDElCE0ly3oH

> y88yg7TIZjnmz+j8Io92cRXnZLZ9YJwfs9PwEF0Z/4Gw5QIkukdAmLmkeKjOWD2A

> 4pG2sV8Og+hnhUw8tJ1rKzQKsj2JJmD+ikeZbXu36iZvdKJB34iM2AsmsRbJhUFf

> ujUU7O5E0z1nF2SBCJ+fpf7ze75dQRrBT0PA23QRobQEEg5wSMc+G//jD26zBCNg

> IEyUAX0/0NQfOqtMmcBm7QJDESseOSufv4b9AgMBAAGgADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsF

> AAOCAQEAK2BenHnfYuW1agdcYrZJD6+uGC6fNfI6qqmvv9XEPFFW0QfPhu8rESyY

> K3qgf/ED+iCXEk/hudnf09vZ6gygM+P8a/zN3+J3VM5zCb6tn7vM0/cytcJONPtu

> mnZGpDO+XjZDDLYmS6jlB+hO5gXeYyQ1t4Qv/s2H8jPhIWTraV376E+S9o318cva

> 7D7yp3W+ce5ItHs9ObKWOaexVsypAV4USrDaVsfSbyU97G2rCXqmMgRLJdBwZofg

> 04qsgrC8qG28aue1Q88XPa/HQtp0WB/Pxg7oe91s59Je/ETsMkR3vt7aglemyXAJ

> nal67+T/QWgLSJB2pQuPHo51MbA55w==

> -----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----" > web_cert.csr

5. Ensure that CSR is saved correctly with the help of cat command.

vmanage:~/web$ cat web_cert.csr

-----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

MIICsjCCAZoCAQAwbTELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxCzAJBgNVBAgTAkNBMREwDwYDVQQH

EwhTYW4gSm9zZTEWMBQGA1UEChMNQ2lzY28gU3lzdGVtczEUMBIGA1UECxMLQ2lz

Y28gU0RXQU4xEDAOBgNVBAMTB3ZtYW5hZ2UwggEiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IB

DwAwggEKAoIBAQCRDdIKGUYuDwobn60PeDqfq96d+r5z66VQ8NBTBBhgwZgG57J7

YIY9yNF5oSb+b1xUEXb61Wntq7qSHSzJhFDX0BaL4/c9llOQped3yDElCE0ly3oH

y88yg7TIZjnmz+j8Io92cRXnZLZ9YJwfs9PwEF0Z/4Gw5QIkukdAmLmkeKjOWD2A

4pG2sV8Og+hnhUw8tJ1rKzQKsj2JJmD+ikeZbXu36iZvdKJB34iM2AsmsRbJhUFf

ujUU7O5E0z1nF2SBCJ+fpf7ze75dQRrBT0PA23QRobQEEg5wSMc+G//jD26zBCNg

IEyUAX0/0NQfOqtMmcBm7QJDESseOSufv4b9AgMBAAGgADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsF

AAOCAQEAK2BenHnfYuW1agdcYrZJD6+uGC6fNfI6qqmvv9XEPFFW0QfPhu8rESyY

K3qgf/ED+iCXEk/hudnf09vZ6gygM+P8a/zN3+J3VM5zCb6tn7vM0/cytcJONPtu

mnZGpDO+XjZDDLYmS6jlB+hO5gXeYyQ1t4Qv/s2H8jPhIWTraV376E+S9o318cva

7D7yp3W+ce5ItHs9ObKWOaexVsypAV4USrDaVsfSbyU97G2rCXqmMgRLJdBwZofg

04qsgrC8qG28aue1Q88XPa/HQtp0WB/Pxg7oe91s59Je/ETsMkR3vt7aglemyXAJ

nal67+T/QWgLSJB2pQuPHo51MbA55w==

-----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----

vmanage:~/web$

6. With the help of openssl, generate a key for Root Certificate named rootca.key.

vmanage:~/web$ openssl genrsa -out rootca.key 2048

Generating RSA private key, 2048 bit long modulus

..

..........

e is 65537 (0x10001)

vmanage:~/web$ ls

rootca.key  web_cert.csr

vmanage:~/web$

7. Generate Root CA certificate named rootca.pem and sign it with rootca.key that was generated on the previous step.

vmanage:~/web$ openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -key rootca.key -sha256 -days 4000 -out rootca.pem

You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated

into your certificate request.

What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.

There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank

For some fields there will be a default value,

If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.

-----

Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:US

State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:CA

Locality Name (eg, city) []:San Jose

Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Cisco Systems

Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:Cisco SDWAN

Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:vmanage

Email Address []:

vmanage:~/web$ ls

rootca.key  rootca.pem web_cert.csr

vmanage:~/web$

8. Sign your CSR with Root CA certificate and key.

vmanage:~/web$ openssl x509 -req -in web_cert.csr -CA rootca.pem -CAkey rootca.key -CAcreateserial -out web_cert.crt -days 4000 -sha256

Signature ok

subject=/C=US/ST=CA/L=San Jose/O=Cisco Systems/OU=Cisco SDWAN/CN=vmanage

Getting CA Private Key

vmanage:~/web$ ls

rootca.key  rootca.pem rootca.srl  web_cert.crt  web_cert.csr

vmanage:~/web$

9. Copy a new signed certificate to the copy-paste buffer. You can use cat in orderto view the signed certificate.

vmanage:~/web$ cat web_cert.crt

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

MIIDVjCCAj4CCQDXH8GlDhvL4DANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADBtMQswCQYDVQQGEwJV

UzELMAkGA1UECAwCQ0ExETAPBgNVBAcMCFNhbiBKb3NlMRYwFAYDVQQKDA1DaXNj

byBTeXN0ZW1zMRQwEgYDVQQLDAtDaXNjbyBTRFdBTjEQMA4GA1UEAwwHdm1hbmFn

ZTAeFw0xOTEwMjIwODU0MzdaFw0zMDEwMDQwODU0MzdaMG0xCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVT

MQswCQYDVQQIEwJDQTERMA8GA1UEBxMIU2FuIEpvc2UxFjAUBgNVBAoTDUNpc2Nv

IFN5c3RlbXMxFDASBgNVBAsTC0Npc2NvIFNEV0FOMRAwDgYDVQQDEwd2bWFuYWdl

MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEAkQ3SChlGLg8KG5+tD3g6

n6venfq+c+ulUPDQUwQYYMGYBueye2CGPcjReaEm/m9cVBF2+tVp7au6kh0syYRQ

19AWi+P3PZZTkKXnd8gxJQhNJct6B8vPMoO0yGY55s/o/CKPdnEV52S2fWCcH7PT

8BBdGf+BsOUCJLpHQJi5pHiozlg9gOKRtrFfDoPoZ4VMPLSdays0CrI9iSZg/opH

mW17t+omb3SiQd+IjNgLJrEWyYVBX7o1FOzuRNM9ZxdkgQifn6X+83u+XUEawU9D

wNt0EaG0BBIOcEjHPhv/4w9uswQjYCBMlAF9P9DUHzqrTJnAZu0CQxErHjkrn7+G

/QIDAQABMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAA4IBAQBZAIxV/GI/AP0aw54PA//+QMUs9t+b

i6lhATUuTdyQwOuQSSfGjhWypDsqm3oh86GXmgoxIF1D/UmcOXHKVeK/MZrhZ/P9

USAAnPGyqOha/TqQvPbSMKALHj9cGc9389io2AAeDQqneEcDqie5uOs0M0vBth3V

DXpq8mYgTjhqIUyab4txWZwXvQmZj+Hu2h2S4wj//us92KgE+XcljNeaky/GEZqZ

jWNoWDgWeJdsm8hx2QteHHbDTahuArVJf1p45eLIcJR1k0lRL8TTroWaST1bZCJz

20aYK4S0K0nTkpscuVIrXHkwNN6Ka4q9/rVxnLzAflJ4E9DXojpD3qNH

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

10. Import the certificate into the vManage. In order to do so, navigate to Administration >Settings > Web Server Certificate > Import and paste the content of your copy-paste buffer as shown in the image.

11. If you did everything right, vManage shows "Certificate Installed Successfully" as shown in the image.

12. Finally, check the result and ensure the certificate validity date updated successfully as shown in the image.

Related Information

- Generate Web Server Certificate

- OpenSSL man

- Technical Support & Documentation - Cisco Systems