PowerVault ME5: Creating CSR on an array using spaces between the Subject and extensions

# create certificate-signing-request subject /O=A. ROYHR North. Game & Co. BG/OU=IT/L=Texas/C=DE/CN=me5012-fzlb-a extension /basicConstraints=CA:TRUE/subjectAltName=DNS:me5012-xxxx-x.xxxxx.xx,IP:192.xxx.xxx.xx
Error: The command had an invalid parameter or unrecognized parameter. - Invalid parameter found [royhr] (2024-09-11 11:33:29)

# create certificate-signing-request subject "/A. ROYHR North. Game & Co. BG/OU=IT/L=Texas /C=DE/CN=me5012-fzlb-a" extension /basicConstraints=CA:TRUE/subjectAltName=DNS:me5012-xxxx-x.xxxxx.xx,IP:192.xxx.xxx.xx
Error: Command failed. - Security certificate signing request not created for controller A. Verify that the subject value has valid format. (2024-09-11 11:33:53)

Below is the syntax and steps to create a CSR with spaces and special characters, in this case, "&". Use double quotes ("") to include spaces and backslash (\) for special characters.

# create certificate-signing-request subject "/C=DE/L=Texas/O=A. ROYHR North. Game \& Co. BG/OU=IT/CN=me5012-fzlb-a" extensions "/basicConstraints=CA:TRUE/subjectAltName=DNS:me5012-xxxx-x.xxxxx.xx,IP:192.xxx.xxx.xx"

The above command only works after the ME5.1.2.1.1 firmware upgrade. Older versions do not support spaces and all special characters. 

Excerpt from the CLI Guide:

contents <content-string>

Optional. A security certificate is generated based on the supplied content. The content becomes the subject of the certificate creation request and must be formatted as /type0=value0/ type1=value1/type2=..., where types include C for country, ST for state or province, L for location, CN for common name, and O for organization. Invalid types will be omitted from the content string. The content string cannot exceed 1024 characters and can include printable UTF-8 characters except space or semicolon. An example is /C=US/ST=CO/O=MyOrganization/ CN=www.mysite.com. You must specify either this parameter or the restore parameter or the unique parameter. 

This article is updated as updates are received.