How does a certificate get "finalized"?

Products

• Client Management Suite
• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

What does it mean to "finalize" a certificate and how is this done? 
The message "It is possible that NS Agents will not be able to connect to the NS over HTTPs after replacement gets finalized" is seen in the Certificate Management page in the SMP Console.

Environment

ITMS 8.5 and later

Resolution

To replace a certificate, on the Certificate Management page, you can do the following:

1. Click the certificate that you want to replace, and then, on the toolbar, click Replace.
2. Select the new certificate and confirm the replacement process.
   - Note that the replacement of the certificate does not occur immediately and the replacement process does not break the connectivity.
   - After you initiate the replacement, the certificate is distributed to the required computers. On the Certificate Management page, you can check the progress of certificate distribution.
3. When the distribution of certificate is completed, you can finalize the replacement.
   - Click the certificate that is being replaced, and then, on the toolbar, click Finalize.
   - The finalization task replaces the current certificate with a new one. After finalization, the new certificate will be in use.

If you have not enabled the Auto Refresh... option in the Internet Gateway Manager, on the Servers tab, take the following steps to perform the replacement of NS root certificate:

1. Initiate the replacement of NS root certificate.
2. On the Internet gateway computer, in the Internet Gateway Manager, on the Servers tab, manually refresh the required server.
3. Wait until the certificate is distributed to all client computers.
4. Finalize the replacement process.
5. On the Internet gateway computer, in the Internet Gateway Manager, on the Servers tab, manually refresh the required server.

Note that while the replacement is in progress, you can cancel it. Canceling the replacement process does not break connectivity and the old certificate remains in use.

 

NOTE: This information can be found at: Managing Certificates