Installing root Certificates for ColdFusion

This another one of those post-this-here-so-I-don’t-have-to-google-forever items.

In May of this year, Verisign introduced a new intermediate root certificate. This september, Paypal renewed their own, forcing API users to be using this new root certificate on their end for all API calls. So that’s all fine and dandy, the solution is pretty easy:

  1. Go to Verisign & download the new root certificates
  2. For me, the critical one is the ‘Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority – G2’ – to be used with the Paypal Payflow API
  3. Install it. For installation to IIS, this is straightforward – simply click on the .cer file and follow the instructions. However, for Coldfusion, this process is a little more involved:

All of the following instructions can be found on Talkingtree.com – I’m rewriting them here for clarity and how I had to do it:

  1. Grab the newly downloaded .cer file and copy it to your {CFROOT}/runtime/jre/lib/security folder (or the equivalent location if you’re using a different JRE).
  2. Run the Keytool function to install it. Keytool exists in {CFROOT}/runtime/jre/bin, using the following path:
    keytool -import -keystore cacerts -alias {UniqueName} -file {filename.cer}
    the  Uniquename can be anything – I recommend something that references what the cert is for. The filename from above is “Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority – G2.cer”
  3. The keytool will ask for a password. By default, in CFMX7, the password is “changeit”
  4. restart CF server

Happy connecting!

UPDATE 2009-10-23: Sarah Kelly has a great post about why doing this is important, beyond just the how, so read that too.

2 Replies to “Installing root Certificates for ColdFusion”

  1. Hi, Steven, I just wrote a similar post yesterday. I focused more on *why* I needed to install the cert, and you focused more on the details of *how*. I will post a link to your blog in the comments to my post.

  2. Hi, Steven, I just wrote a similar post yesterday. I focused more on *why* I needed to install the cert, and you focused more on the details of *how*. I will post a link to your blog in the comments to my post.

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