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Using the GEANT Trusted Certificate Service TCS for Dutch e-Infrastructures

URGENT NOTICE: get a new TCS certificate BEFORE APRIL 30!

The TCS service itself is required to periodically tender for a new back-end provider on the public market. From May 1st, 2020, onwards, the service will have to rely on a new provider, Sectigo, to produce the actual certificates. Although the data TCS and GEANT provide remain the same, Sectigo has not yet been capable of producing compliant certificates during the testing phase.
Until April 30th, the current provider DigiCert remains available. DigiCert-generated TCS certificates are fully compliant and will even remain functional for at least another 13 months after you get one. So well into 2021 - provided you get your new one today, even if your current certificate is still valid!.

Recommended actions:

After May 1st, only the Legacy DutchGrid CA may be available to you. We are scaling up capacity and operations to deal with that eventuality, but since the Legacy DutchGrid CA employs air-gapped operations for security reasons, it will always be a slower process. We will be introducing remote vetting procedures and voucher-based upload of documents shortly to address the lack of facsimile machines and applicants now working from home. Such options will be available from April 22nd onwards. However, since the Legacy DutchGrid CA and TCS by design use non-overlapping names, you would have to re-register with your research collaboration membership services or e-infrastructure services. We strongly recommend to get a new DigiCert-based TCS certificate now.

The legacy DutchGrid CA is a 'classic' CA process is not instantaneous: it may take up to a week to complete, and requires you to visit one of our Registration Authorities in-person.
Fortunately, there is a far easier and quicker way to get a certificate suitable for use on the Grid: the GEANT Trusted Certificate Service TCS, provided to all Dutch research and academic institutions through SURFnet, the Dutch Research and Educational Network via the existing connection between your own institution and SURFconext.
The GEANT TCS is operated by DigiCert, which offers a wider range of certificate types, including "Robot" machine-to-machine certificates, as well as other Grid & Authentication certificates.

Apply for your certificate now

In case you need more help or get 'stuck' in the process, try the following:

Using TCS with Firefox 69+, Chrome, and recent Safari's

Since version 69 (September 2019), Firefox is no longer able to generate certificates by itself - this functionality was killed by Mozilla, aligning it with Google Chrome. You can generate your 'certificate request' manually and upload it to the DigiCert SSO portal. You will need OpenSSL for this: it is commonly installed on Linux systems, and downloadable as a binary for Windows and other platforms.

  1. Generate your keypair and make your electronic request file (which should be protected by a passphrase - don't forget the passphrae chosen here, as you'll need it later in step 4!) in te Globus default location (saving the previous contents if needed):
    [ -d $HOME/.globus ] && mv $HOME/.globus $HOME/.globus-backup-saved-on-`date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S`
mkdir $HOME/.globus
openssl req -subj "/CN=Pietje Puk 42" -out $HOME/.globus/userrequest.pem -keyout $HOME/.globus/userkey.pem -new
chmod 0600 $HOME/.globus/userkey.pem  # for Unix systems only
cat $HOME/.globus/userrequest.pem
  2. Login to digicert.com/sso and copy-paste into the request form for "Grid Premium": (click to enlarge)
  3. Download the generated certificate (a ZIP file) from the list (it's the most recent one, sort by clicking the date column heading), download it to e.g. $HOME/Downloads/ and
    extract your own certificate to, e.g., $HOME/.globus/usercert.pem. For example: 
    unzip -pqj $HOME/Downloads/*_nl.zip \*_nl.crt > $HOME/.globus/usercert.pem
    At this point, use with most e-Infrastructure middleware and grid tools will work.
    To register with community membership services, and to use it for authentication to web sites and portals, continue to import it into your browser(s) using a ".p12" (or ".pfx") file here in step 4.
  4. Combine the files into a ".p12" (PKCS#12) file to import in your operating system or browser (using the same passphrase again, actually: three times): 
    openssl pkcs12 -export -in $HOME/.globus/usercert.pem -inkey $HOME/.globus/userkey.pem -out $HOME/.globus/your-new-packed-cert.p12
chmod 0600  $HOME/.globus/your-new-packed-cert.p12
  5. On Windows, double-click to import in your OS, or see look at the browser import guide
    For Safari, see https://www.digicert.com/kb/ssl-support/p12-import-export-mac-mavericks-server.htm
  6. Verify by visiting https://www.eugridpma.org/your-identity/

If you need a complete chain of trust for your bundle, download the eScience intermediate authority as well: 
curl -o "TCSeSciencePersonalCA3.pem" https://ca.dutchgrid.nl/tcs/TCSeSciencePersonalCA3.pem
IMPORTDATE=`date +%Y.%m.%d`
openssl pkcs12 -export -in $HOME/.globus/usercert.pem -inkey $HOME/.globus/userkey.pem -certfile TCSeSciencePersonalCA3.pem \
  -name "Personal TCS G3 cert of $IMPORTDATE" -out $HOME/.globus/your-new-packed-bundle-on-$IMPORTDATE.p12
chmod 0600  $HOME/.globus/your-new-packed-bundle-on-$IMPORTDATE.p12
Putting a browser-generated certificate into a file

By default, your certificate (and your private key) are located in your browser. You can use this instantly with all web-based services, such as administrative interfaces, VO registration, etc. For use with grid job submission, you should export these to local files on disk, names "usercert.pem" and "userkey.pem", in the following way:

  1. Open the certificate store of your browser or operating system. For Apple's MacOS, follow the DigiCert apple export guide.
    For Mozilla (the example shown below is Firefox 3), this is located under "Tools", then "Options", "Advanced", and click on "View certificates". In Internet Explorer, go to "Options", "Internte Settings", "Content", and there click "Certificates".



  2. Click "backup your certificate", and also selet "save private key" when asked for. Store the file (it will be called something.p12, since the file format is called PKCS#12), and remember where you wrote it!

  3. Start jGridstart and import your certificate from the PKCS#12 ".p12" file. It is now ready for grid use.
    Alternatively, convert the "p12" file to a user cert and user key file using the command-line tools: 
    openssl pkcs12 -nocerts -in cert.p12 -out $HOME/.globus/userkey.pem
openssl pkcs12 -clcerts -nokeys -in cert.p12 -out $HOME/.globus/usercert.pem 
chmod 0600 $HOME/.globus/userkey.pem
chmod 0644 $HOME/.globus/usercert.pem
    and don't forget the last step (the permissions bit) or you will see strange errors.

  4. Go to the registration page of your user community and join a VO, a 'virtual organisation'. A list of frequently used VOs and how to join them is provided by BiG Grid.

I have my certificate in one system or browser, but I need it in another

You have your certificate in, e.g. Internet Explorer, but you need it in Firefox. Or in your MacOS keychain. Or vice versa.
The browser in which you can use your certificate holds two elements you need to export: the certificate itself and the private key. For this reason, you must protect any intermediate files you create with a passphrase - the browser will ask you for it.
Precise steps differ per browser, but generally include "Export" or "Backup" of the certificate and private key to a ".p12" or "PKCS#12" file. Once you have the ".p12 file", import it using "Restore" or by double-clicking on the .p12 file:
ProductExportImport
Internet Explorer & MS Windows
  1. Open Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe)
  2. From the menu bar, select "Tools" -> "Internet Options"
  3. In the tabbed dialog box, select the "Content" tab
  4. Click "Certificates"
  5. In the "personal" tab, select your valid certificate
  6. Click "Export", and "Next" in the Wizard dialog
  7. Select "Yes, export the private key" and click "Next"
  8. In the "File format" dialog, keep "Personal Information Exchange" selected, "include all certificates in the path if possible" must be chekced, and "Enable certificate privacy" must be checked. Do not delete the private key. Click "Next"
  9. In the security screen, check "Password" and provide a strong but memorable passphrase twice. Any Encryption will do here. Click "Next"
  10. In the "File to Export" dialog, profile a filename (the ".pfx" is similar to ".p12"). E.g. "M:\security\DigiCert\personalrobot.p12", and click "Next"
  11. Review what you provided and click "Finish" in the next dialog.
  12. Provide the existing passphrase if you're asked for it
  13. It will say "Export was successful"
  14. Close all dialog boxes again
Alternatively, you can start the "certmgr.msc" control panel, open "Current User\Personal\Certificates", and use the context menu of your valid personal certificate to "All Tasks" -> "Export" and follow the same steps from "Certificates" onwards.
You can now use the ".pfx" file for import elsewhere. Rename it to ".p12" if needed for other browsers.
  1. Navigate to the folder containing your ".p12" file using the Explorer
  2. Double-click on the .p12 or .pfx file - a Certificate Import Wizard will open
  3. Select the "Current User" store location, and click Next
  4. Confirm the file you want to import and click Next
  5. Privide the passphrase used to protect the file, and check the "Enable trong private key protection" box. Also marking it as exportable will be good, but not needed. Click Next
  6. Let windows automatically select the certificate store based on the format, so just click "Next"
  7. Click "Finish" in the final dialog.
  8. You're done!
Firefox To export from Firefox, see the example above - it will give you also the PKCS12 (.p12) file.
  1. Open the Options screen and the "Privacy & Security" section (type "about:preferences#privacy" in the address bar)
  2. Scroll to the very bottom of the page to vind "View Certificates..."
  3. Click on "View Certificates..."
  4. In the dialog box, click on "Import..."
  5. Select the file (.p12 or .pfx) using the file selection box and click "Open"
  6. "Please enter the password that was used to encrypt this certificate backup:", do that and click OK
  7. You're done!
Chrome and Safari Chrome uses your operating system browser store: in your profile on Windows, or in your Keychain on MacOS. For Windows, use Internet Explorer or certmgr.msc to export. On Apple, use your keychain to backup (export) your certificate and key. Chrome uses your operating system browser store: in Windows, double-click on the p12 file and follow the "Internet Explorer" instructions. On MacOS, opening a p12 file will open it in Keychain.
For Apple users, just read this DigiCert guide

No access to the TCS service?

  • Test first by going to www.digicert.com/sso and type (part of) the name of your institution
  • No luck finding your organsiation? Ask your institute help desk to request "that the AAI responsible person or SURFnet ICP requests a connection be made to DigiCert in the SURFcontext dashboard and to permit inclusion of the IdP in eduGAIN"
  • You find your institution but cannot log in (it complains about missing attributes) but you are an employee? Ask your institute helpdesk to request "that the eduPersonEntitlement to access the TCS, namely urn:mace:terena.org:tcs:personal-user, is set by default for all employees, since they are eligible anyway because the organization keeps a copy of a photo-ID to fulfil the requirements of the 'Wet op de Loonbelasting'"
  • Still getting stuck and does your institution need help? Tell them to contact the SURFnet product manager for TCS. You can contact your own organisation by mail at scs-ra@instelling.nl



For institutions