Managing the SSL Certificate for the

ESRS HTTPS Listener Service

Technical Notes
P/N 300-013-818 Rev 01
July, 2012

This document contains information on these topics:

 Introduction ................................................................................................ 2
 Terminology ............................................................................................... 2
 HTTPS Concepts ........................................................................................ 3
 Obtaining an Appropriate X.509 Certificate ........................................... 4
 Configuring the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to Use the
Appropriate X.509 Certificate ................................................................... 7
 Configuring ConnectHome to Verify the Server Identity .................. 11
 Troubleshooting ....................................................................................... 12

1
Introduction

Introduction
This technical note presents a method for securing the HTTPS connection
between the ConnectHome feature on a Control Station and the EMC®
Secure Remote Support (ESRS) HTTPS Listener Service installed on a
host system that is running Microsoft Windows. After you have installed
and configured the two components and the connection is shown to be
working (by using the default HTTPS configuration), you should
provide the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service with an X.509 certificate that is
specific to the system that is hosting the service. This action allows any
ConnectHome client to verify the server identity.

Terminology
ESRS HTTPS Listener (EHL) Service
A component of the ESRS IP Client that accepts the HTTPS event
notifications from a ConnectEMC client application that is
running on an EMC device.
HTTPS

HTTP Secure, also known as HTTP over SSL

X.509 Certificate (also commonly referred to as an “SSL Certificate”)

A form of identification in which a subject’s name is bound to a

public key. The signer of the certificate is asserting that the entity
using the certificate is who (or what) they say they are.
PKI
Public Key Infrastructure
Certificate Authority
The entity that verifies that the identifying information in an
X.509 certificate is legitimate.

2 Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes
 HTTPS concepts

HTTPS concepts
HTTPS protects the HTTP exchanges between two systems. Typically,
this protection uses encryption to protect the traffic over the network
and enables the client, which is the system initiating the exchange, to
verify the identity of the server. You can use HTTPS without verifying
the server’s identity, but this leaves the exchange open to man-in-the-
middle attacks.
In order for a client system to verify the identity of the server, the server
will present to a client an X.509 certificate that identifies the server and is
associated with a private key to which only the server system should
have access. This allows the HTTPS handshake process to use a
challenge and response protocol in which the client system can verify
that the server has the private key associated with the certificate and, to
the extent that the certificate is trusted, be assured that it is
communicating with the right server.
Logically, three systems are involved in establishing a valid HTTPS
connection. These are:
The client system that initiates a connection. For the purposes of
this technical note, this is the Control Station which is initiating a
ConnectHome call.

The server system that receives the connection and may be

expected to verify its identity.

The Certificate Authority (CA), which verifies that the

information in the X.509 certificate used by the server is correct
(that is, the server is what or who it says it is). The CA can be
either an external signing authority or the server system itself. In
the latter case, this results in a “self-signed” certificate. The
server is essentially stating that it is what it says it is.

Before any clients can verify the server’s identity, the server must obtain
a suitable X.509 certificate. This certificate is signed by some entity to
verify the information is correct, even if that entity is the server itself.
Once this certificate is in place and the client initiates a connection to the
server, the server presents the client with this certificate. The client
verifies that the information in the certificate agrees with what it
expected (typically, that either the hostname or IP address match what it
used to connect to the server) and then must decide how trustworthy the
certificate is (who signed it and whether to believe that signing

Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes 3
Obtaining an appropriate X.509 certificate

authority).
The following sections describe how to obtain and install a suitable
certificate on the EHL hosting system and how to configure the Control
Station to accept it.

Obtaining an appropriate X.509 certificate

The following sections describe different methods for obtaining or
generating an X.509 certificate.

Environments with an internal Certificate Authority

If you are installing the EHL service and the ConnectHome feature in an
environment that has a Certificate Authority (CA) in place, then an
established process should exist for generating a Certificate Signing
Request (CSR) for the system hosting the EHL service. Follow this
process to install the resulting signed certificate on the EHL hosting
system using the site’s documented process. The process for enabling the
Control Station to recognize this authority is described in the section
Configuring ConnectHome to verify the server identity.

Where there is an appropriate certificate already installed

To verify if an appropriate X.509 certificate is installed already on the
system hosting the EHL service:
1. On the Windows system hosting the EHL service, start the Microsoft
Management Console (MMC). From Start menu select Run. Enter
mmc as the command to run.
2. Add the Certificates snap-in for the Local Computer
(See the Windows system’s online help for more detailed
instructions).

4 Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes
 Obtaining an appropriate X.509 certificate

3. In the list on the left-hand side of the screen, select: Certificates

(Local Computer) → Personal → Certificates

4. In the right-hand pane, find the certificate that identifies the system
by IP address or hostname. Be sure that the certificate has a
corresponding private key.
In the case where a suitable certificate is already in place, determine the
signing authority (either a Certificate Authority or self-signed) and locate
the corresponding public certificate so that the Control Station can verify
the server’s identity (discussed in section Configuring ConnectHome to
verify the server identity).

Using the Control Station to generate a self-signed X.509 certificate

If the environment does not have a preferred method or mechanism for
generating an X.509 certificate and a suitable certificate is not installed
already, use the Control Station to generate a suitable certificate. Follow
these steps:
1. Record either the IP address or the fully qualified hostname of the
system hosting the EHL service. Record the form of the host ID that
you will use for configuring ConnectHome. This example uses the
following IP address:
IP Address: 10.245.52.25
2. Log in to the Control Station using SSH. Any valid user account is

Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes 5
Obtaining an appropriate X.509 certificate

acceptable; you do not need to be the root user.

3. Generate a self-signed X.509 certificate with a corresponding private
key with the command (all on one line):

This command creates a self-signed certificate (the subject and issuer are
the same) and a corresponding key (mycert.pem and mykey.pem,
respectively). This certificate has a key length of 1024 bits and is valid for
one year. To have a larger key size, change the -newkey argument to
rsa:2048. To change the length of time for which the certificate is valid,
change the argument to the -days option.

NOTE: It is important to protect the private key (mykey.pem). If this is

compromised, the security of the HTTPS connection is compromised.

4. Type the following command (all on one line) to bundle the resulting
certificate (mycert.pem) and associated private key (mykey.pem)
into a PKCS #12 bundle that can be imported on the Windows
system that is hosting the EHL service:

5. Transfer the resulting PKCS #12 file (mypkg.p12) to the Windows

system that is hosting the EHL service. When transferring this file,
remember to indicate that it is a binary file. You can delete the
private key file mykey.pem from the Control Station once the
transfer is complete. Retain a copy of the public certificate,
mycert.pem, for later use.

6 Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes
 Configuring the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to use the appropriate X.509 certificate

Configuring the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to use the

appropriate X.509 certificate
The two steps required to configure the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to
use the appropriate certificate are:
1. Importing the X.509 certificate into the certificate store (if it’s not
already there).
2. Configuring the EHL service to use the new certificate.

Importing an X.509 certificate and corresponding private key

Once you have transferred the PKCS #12 file to the system hosting the
EHL service, use the following steps to import the X.509 certificate:
1. Start the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
2. Add the Certificates snap-in for the local computer.
(See the online help for more detailed instructions.)
3. In the list on the left-hand side of the screen, select: Certificates
(Local Computer) → Personal → Certificates
4. Right-click the Certificates folder, select All Tasks → Import, and
follow the prompts to import the PKCS#12 certificate bundle from its
location.
5. Once the import has completed, double click on the resulting
certificate. A dialog box similar to the following should appear.

Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes 7
Configuring the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to use the appropriate X.509 certificate

Note that the Issued to: and Issued by: entries are the same value. This
indicates the certificate is self-signed. Next note that the certificate store
considers the certificate to be untrusted. You should make the certificate
trusted for this system by importing the public certificate into the
Trusted Root Certification Authorities store. Do this by importing the
PKCS#12 bundle into the certificate store again but into a different
folder. The process is the same as outlined above except that in step 3,
select Certificates (Local Computer) → Trusted Root Certification
Authorities → Certificates.
Once you have done this, the original certificate similar to the following
should appear:

8 Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes
 Configuring the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to use the appropriate X.509 certificate

Configuring the EHL Service to use the installed certificate

Once a suitable certificate is installed in the certificate store, you must
configure the EHL to use it. The following steps describe how to
configure the EHL service to use the appropriate X.509 certificate:
1. In the Certificates snap-in, double-click the certificate (see step 5 in
the previous procedure).
2. Select the Details tab and find the Thumbprint value. This should
be a SHA 1 hash of the certificate and should look similar to the
following:

Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes 9
Configuring the ESRS HTTPS Listener Service to use the appropriate X.509 certificate

3. Make a note of the thumbprint value.

4. In a Windows shell, go to the location where the esrshttps.exe is
installed; for example:

5. Run the command esrshttps.exe –config.

6. In the dialog box that appears, make sure the following values are
set as shown:
 Scheme = https
 IP Address = The IP address for the system hosting the EHL
service. This value should be the same in the X.509
certificate.
 Port = 443
 Root Dir: As appropriate for the ESRS IP Client installation
location. In the example above, it would be:
C:\Program Files\EMC\ESRS IP Client

10 Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes
 Configuring ConnectHome to verify the server identity

 SSLHASH = The SHA 1 thumbprint value recorded in step 3

above. Enter this value without spaces and with the letters
(if any) in UPPERCASE
o DACEB92817329422A3C8A7421874EF1E8AFF67A3
o NOT da ce b9 28 17 32 94 22 a3 c8 a7 42 18 74 ef 1e 8a ff 67
a3
 Your dialog box will look similar to the following (with
some values specific to the site):

7. Click Save.
8. Verify that the esrshttps.exe.config file includes the correct values.
If any values differ from what is expected, you can edit the config
file directly.
9. Start (or restart) the EHL service.
10. Verify in the log file that the service started correctly using the
supplied certificate. The log file lists the supplied SSLHash value
that is being used and verifies that it was found in the certificate
store.

Configuring ConnectHome to verify the server identity

The ConnectHome feature can verify the server identity of the EHL
service host if the public certificate of the signing authority has been
copied to the Control Station. If the EHL host is using a self-signed
certificate, this would be the public certificate that is presented. If an
internal CA signed the, then this would be the public certificate of the
CA. In either case, make sure that the certificate is in PEM form.
To point the ConnectHome feature to the right certificate, use the
command:
nas_connecthome –modify –https_ca_file

Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes 11
Troubleshooting

/path/to/cert/mycert.pem

To enable verification of the EHL system address, use the command:

nas_connecthome –https_verify_server yes

Once you have completed these two commands, verify the connection
with the command:
nas_connecthome –test –https

Troubleshooting
If the HTTPS connection from the ConnectHome client to the EHL
service is not working, consider the following:
Verify that the connection was working before any certificate
changes were made. In some environments, you may need to
change internal firewall settings.

Verify the information in the X.509 certificate that the EHL

service is using.

o Is the IP address correct? Does the system hosting the

EHL service have a static IP address?

o Is the value that the certificate has for the host the same
as the one that the ConnectHome client is using? They
should both have either the IP address or the hostname.
Do not mix and match and do not supply both values in
the X.509 certificate.

Verify that the esrshttps.exe.config file has the information you

expect. Be sure to verify the thumbprint.

Look at the esrshttps.log file in the EHL log directory. It may

indicate the system cannot locate the certificate or that the
HTTPS port (443) is already in use by another service. If it is the
latter, use a different port or stop the competing service. For
instructions on changing the port, go to the EMC Online Support
website (at http://Support.EMC.com) and locate the EMC Secure
Remote Support IP Solutions Guide.

Verify that the appropriate Certificate Authority public X.509

certificate is on the Control Station and configured correctly for
the ConnectHome client.

12 Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes
 Troubleshooting

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Managing the SSL Certificate for the ESRS Listener Service Technical Notes 13