PowerEdge: How to import an externally created custom certificate and private key into the iDRAC

Summary: This article explains how to create and import an iDRAC certificate.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Instructions

Background

Beginning with the iDRAC6, it has been possible to create a certificate leveraging the public key infrastructure (PKI) and import certificates into the iDRAC. It allows for more control over certificate creation process and allows for automation of these processes. Lastly, this process can be leveraged to create and import a wildcard certificate into the iDRAC. From a security stand-point, the use of wildcards is not best practice. However, the process used to create any external certificate can also be leveraged for a wildcard certificate.
 

 

Table of content

  1. Certificate creation using OpenSSL
  2. Private key creation and certificate signing
  3. Upload certificate in iDRAC

 


In order to import the SSL certificate, you need a private key, and a signed certificate for that key. Certificates can be third party provided or auto-generated. Here is a rudimentary example of the certificate creation process using OpenSSL in a windows environment: 

 OpenSSL Private key and certificate for use as Certificate Authority

The installation must function as a Certificate Authority. This allows us to issue or sign a certificate request. Here are those steps:

  1. Creating the CA private key:
    • You must provide a password for the private key. This is needed later, so do remember this.

 bin>openssl.exe genrsa -aes256 -out keys/ca.key 2048

creating the CA Private Key

  1. Creating the CA Certificate leveraging the created key:
    • You are prompted for details about the certificate. These include the common name and the location data. The most important field here is the Common Name. This is going to the identity of the CA, and is reflected in the certificate. Typically, this must match the name by which is accessing the system (DNS hostname for instance). This field is highlighted in the screenshot below.

bin>openssl.exe req -config openssl.conf -new -x509 -days 3650 -key keys/ca.key -out certs/ca.cer

Creating the CA Certificate

Now that a private key and certificate are available to use for a Certificate Authority, we can create a private key and CSR for the iDRAC and then sign this request leveraging our Certificate Authority certificate.

 

 

Creating the private key, Certificate Signing Request, and Certificate for the iDRAC web services

For the iDRAC, we must have a key and a signed certificate to import into the web services. We can leverage OpenSSL to achieve these goals.

  1. First, we must create a private key and a certificate signing request (CSR) that we can then sign leveraging the CA certificate. The key and CSR can be created in the same step:
    1. You have to fill out the certificate details. The common name for this certificate should match the name by which we are accessing the iDRAC. Highlighted below
    2. Also of note, you must include a passphrase for the private key that is being created. Highlighted below

bin>openssl.exe req -new -config openssl.conf -newkey rsa:2048  -nodes -keyout idrac.key -out idrac.csr

Creating the private key and CSR

  1. Next, the Certificate Authority must sign the certificate we created.

bin>openssl.exe ca -policy policy_anything -config openssl.conf -cert certs/ca.cer -in requests/idrac_web.csr -keyfile keys/ca.key -days 365 -out certs/idrac_web.cer

 

Signing the certificate

 

  1. We now have the necessary components to upload to the iDRAC. The first of these is the private key (idrac_web.key) and the second of these is the signed certificate (idrac_web.cer). 

     

 

Upload certificate in iDRAC


 

With a private key and certificate pair, we can upload the key and certificate to the iDRAC.

Note: For the following steps, I copied the private key and the certificate to the root of the C drive for ease of access and to decrease the length of the commands.
  1. First, we must upload the certificate:
    • I leveraged remote racadm command with the interactive option

 

racadm -r 10.14.177.107 -i sslkeyupload -t 1 -f C:\idrac_web.key

 

uploading the key

  1. With the key uploaded, we must upload the certificate. The command for this is:

racadm -r 10.14.177.107 -i sslcertupload -t 1 -f c:\idrac_web.cer

Importing certificate into the idrac

  1. After the web interface has come back, we must verify our certificate. This can be done by accessing the web interface in any browser, and then inspecting the certificate. You should see that the certificate reflects the configured common name and is issued by the common name configured in your CA:

Verifying our certificate is being used by the web interface 
 


 

Additional Information

For iDRAC6, iDRAC7 and iDRAC8 certificate issues have a look at this article:

IDRAC: iDRAC6, iDRAC7, or iDRAC8 - default SSL web-server certificate expired

Videos

Tutorial On iDRAC Web Server Certificates

Duration: 00:16:18 (hh:mm:ss)
When available, closed caption (subtitles) language settings can be chosen using the CC icon on this video player.

Affected Products

iDRAC6, iDRAC7, iDRAC8, iDRAC9, OEMR R210II, OEMR R210, OEMR R220, OEMR R230, OEMR R240, OEMR R250, OEMR XE R250, OEMR R260, OEMR XE R260, OEMR R310, OEMR R320, OEMR R330, OEMR R340, OEMR R350, OEMR XE R350, OEMR R360, OEMR XE R360, OEMR R410 , OEMR R420, OEMR R430, OEMR R440, PowerEdge XR2, OEMR R450, OEMR R510, OEMR R520, OEMR R530, OEMR R540, OEMR R550, OEMR R5500, OEMR R610, OEMR R620, OEMR R630, OEMR R640, OEMR XL R640, OEMR R6415, OEMR R650, OEMR R650xs, OEMR R6515, OEMR R6525, OEMR R660, OEMR XL R660, OEMR R660xs, OEMR R6615, OEMR R6625, OEMR R710, OEMR R720, OEMR R720xd, OEMR R730, OEMR R730xd, OEMR R740, OEMR XL R740, OEMR R740xd, OEMR XL R740xd, OEMR R740xd2, OEMR R7415, OEMR R7425, OEMR R750, OEMR R750xa, OEMR R750xs, OEMR R7515, OEMR R7525, OEMR R760, OEMR R760xa, OEMR R760XD2, OEMR XL R760, OEMR R760xs, OEMR R7615, OEMR R7625, OEMR R810, OEMR R820, OEMR R830, OEMR R840, OEMR R860, OEMR R910, OEMR R920, OEMR R930, OEMR R940, OEMR R940xa, OEMR R960, OEMR T130, OEMR T140, OEMR T150, OEMR T320, OEMR T330, OEMR T340, OEMR T350, OEMR T360, OEMR T420, OEMR T430, OEMR T440, OEMR T550, OEMR T560, OEMR T610, OEMR T620, OEMR T630, OEMR T640, OEMR XL T640, OEMR T710, OEMR XL R210, OEMR XL R210II, OEMR XL R220, OEMR XL R230, OEMR XL R240, OEMR XL R330, OEMR XL R340, OEMR XL R520, OEMR XL R610, OEMR V2 XL R610, OEMR XL R620, OEMR XL R630, OEMR XL R660xs, OEMR XL R6615, OEMR XL R6625, OEMR XL R710, OEMR XL V2 R710, OEMR XL R720, OEMR XL R720xd, OEMR XL R730, OEMR XL R730XD, OEMR XL R760xs, OEMR XL R7615, OEMR XL R7625, OEMR XR11, OEMR XR12, OEMR XR5610, OEMR XR7620, PowerEdge C4130, Poweredge C4140, PowerEdge c6320, PowerEdge c6320p, PowerEdge C6420, PowerEdge C6520, PowerEdge C6525, PowerEdge C6615, PowerEdge C6620, Poweredge FC430, Poweredge FC630, PowerEdge FC640, Poweredge FC830, PowerEdge HS5610, PowerEdge HS5620, PowerEdge M630, PowerEdge M630 (for PE VRTX), PowerEdge M640, PowerEdge M640 (for PE VRTX), PowerEdge M830, PowerEdge M830 (for PE VRTX), PowerEdge MX740C, PowerEdge MX750c, PowerEdge MX760c, PowerEdge MX840C, PowerEdge R230, PowerEdge R240, PowerEdge R250, PowerEdge R260, PowerEdge R330, PowerEdge R340, PowerEdge R350, PowerEdge R360, PowerEdge R430, PowerEdge R440, PowerEdge R450, PowerEdge R530, PowerEdge R530xd, PowerEdge R540, PowerEdge R550, PowerEdge R630, PowerEdge R640, PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R650, PowerEdge R650xs, PowerEdge R6515, PowerEdge R6525, PowerEdge R660, PowerEdge R660xs, PowerEdge R6615, PowerEdge R6625, PowerEdge R730, PowerEdge R730xd, PowerEdge R740, PowerEdge R740XD, PowerEdge R740XD2, PowerEdge R7415, PowerEdge R7425, PowerEdge R750, PowerEdge R750XA, PowerEdge R750xs, PowerEdge R7515, PowerEdge R7525, PowerEdge R760, PowerEdge R760XA, PowerEdge R760xd2, PowerEdge R760xs, PowerEdge R7615, PowerEdge R7625, PowerEdge R830, PowerEdge R840, PowerEdge R860, PowerEdge R930, PowerEdge R940, PowerEdge R940xa, PowerEdge R960, PowerEdge T130, PowerEdge T140, PowerEdge T150, PowerEdge T160, PowerEdge T330, PowerEdge T340, PowerEdge T350, PowerEdge T360, PowerEdge T430, PowerEdge T440, PowerEdge T550, PowerEdge T560, PowerEdge T630, PowerEdge T640, PowerEdge XE2420, PowerEdge XE7420, PowerEdge XE7440, PowerEdge XE8545, PowerEdge XE8640, PowerEdge XE9640, PowerEdge XE9680, PowerEdge XR11, PowerEdge XR12, PowerEdge XR5610, PowerEdge XR7620, PowerFlex appliance R650, PowerFlex appliance R6525, PowerFlex appliance R660, PowerFlex appliance R6625, Powerflex appliance R750, PowerFlex appliance R760, PowerFlex appliance R7625, PowerFlex custom node R650, PowerFlex custom node R6525, PowerFlex custom node R660, PowerFlex custom node R6625, PowerFlex custom node R750, PowerFlex custom node R760, PowerFlex custom node R7625, PowerFlex custom node R860, PowerFlex appliance R640, PowerFlex appliance R740XD, PowerFlex appliance R7525, PowerFlex appliance R840 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000120158
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 05 Feb 2025
Version:  7
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