Certificate Authentication

Accessibility

This WBM page is accessible with user role:

Admin
SecurityAdmin (from firmware 2022.0 LTS)
CertificateManager

How to get into the WBMHow to get into the WBM

Establishing a connection to the Web-based Management (WBM):

Open a web browser on your computer.
In the address field, enter the URL https://<IP-address-of-the-controller>/wbm,
for example: https://192.168.1.10/wbm.

For further information, see WBM.

Certificate Authentication page

The Certificate Authentication page is used to manage certificates for secure controller communication. For this, the Trust Stores and Identity Stores tabs are available.
Trusted certificates and revocation lists of possible communication partners are stored on the Trust Stores tab.
Your own certificates are stored on the Identity Stores tab.

The name for each store can be used with the interfaces for TLS communication, e.g., TLS_SOCKET block in IEC 61131‑3, or TlsSocket class in C++ or C#. The names of the stores are case-sensitive.

For Information about the location of certificates on the controller's file system, refer to Directories of the firmware components.

Note: Use only the following characters when naming Trust Stores and Identity Stores:

Letters [a - z] [A - Z]
Numbers [0 - 9]
Hyphen [ - ]
Underscore [ _ ]

Trust Stores tab

On the Trust Stores tab, you can create different Trust Stores, name them and add certificates and revocation lists.

Note: The firmware internally uses the Empty Trust Store that already exists as a default. Therefore, this entry cannot be changed via the WBM.

Adding a Trust Store

To add a Trust Store, click on the button at the end of the Trust Store table.
In the dialog that opens, enter a new name in the Name input field (anything except proficloudv3 which is reserved for the Proficloud V3 services). Make sure to use only the allowed characters.
Then click on the Add button.

Deleting a Trust Store

To delete a Trust Store, click on the button to the right of the Trust Store table.
In the window that opens, click on the Remove button.

Renaming a Trust Store

To rename a Trust Store, click on the button to the right of the Trust Store table.
In the dialog that opens, enter a name in the Name input field.
Click on the Rename button. Make sure to use only the allowed characters.

Creating a Trust Store

Each Trust Store is represented by two tables in WBM:

Certificates table:
In this table, you can manage trusted certificates and issuer certificates.
CRL Lists:
In this table, you can manage the revocation lists (CRL - Certificate Revocation Lists) for the corresponding Trust Store. For this, you store untrusted certificates and issuer certificates.

Adding certificates and revocation lists

You can add certificates and revocation lists to a Trust Store:

To add a certificate, click on the button below the Certificates table of the corresponding Trust Store.

The Add Certificate dialog opens.

To add a revocation list, click on the button below the CRL Lists table of the corresponding Trust Store.

The Add CRL List dialog opens (see Add CRL list).

In the Certificates Trust Store table, a distinction is made between the Issuer Certificate and Trusted Certificate certificate types.

Select the desired certificate type from the Certificate Type drop-down list.

Possible settings:

Issuer Certificate
Trusted Certificate

Input method

From the Input Method drop-down list, select the way a certificate or revocation list is to be added to the Trust Store.

Possible settings:

File Upload
Text Content

File Upload

You can upload a certificate or revocation list.

To upload a certificate in .pem format, select File Upload.
Click on Browse....
In the file explorer that opens, select the desired certificate.
Then click on the Add button.

The certificate or revocation list is added to the Trust Store.

Text Content

To add a certificate or revocation list in text form, select Text Content.
Enter the text into the input field.
Then click on the Add button.

The certificate or revocation list is added to the Trust Store.

Deleting certificates and revocation lists

To delete a certificate or revocation list from a Trust Store, click on the button of the respective certificate or revocation list.
In the window that opens, click on the Remove button.

Detail view

The detail views provide detailed information on every certificate and revocation list:

To open the detail view, click on the button of a certificate or revocation list.

The detail view opens.

To close the detail view, click on the Close button.

Identity Stores tab

On the Identity Stores tab, you can create and manage different Identity Stores.
Each Identity Store usually contains an RSA key pair and the corresponding key certificate. As an option, you can add further issuer certificates to an Identity Store. The IDevID and OpcUA-SelfSigned Identity Stores are part of the system and supplied with the controller.

Adding an Identity Store

To add an Identity Store, click on the button at the end of the Identity Store table.
In the dialog that opens, enter a name in the Name input field. Make sure to use only the allowed characters.
From the Key Pair drop-down list, select the way the key pair is to be added.

Possible settings:

Enter
Generate

Enter:

From the Input Method drop-down list, select the way the key pair is to be added to the Identity Store.

Possible settings:

File Upload
Text Content

For additional information on the Input Method, please refer to Input method.

Generate:

The controller automatically generates a key pair.

From the Key Type drop-down list, select the encryption method.

To add the Identity Store, click on the Add button.

Deleting an Identity Store

To delete an Identity Store, click on the button to the right of the Identity Store table.
In the window that opens, click on the Remove button.

Renaming an Identity Store

To rename an Identity Store, click on the button to the right of the Identity Store table.
In the dialog that opens, enter a new name into the New Name input field. Make sure to use only the allowed characters.
Click on the Rename button.

Detail view

The detail views provide detailed information on every key pair, key certificate or issuer certificate:

To open the detail view, click on the button of a key pair or certificate (see also Certificate Details).
To close the detail view, click on the Close button.

Downloading public keys or key certificates

You can download the content of the public key of a key pair as a .pem file.
If a key certificate is available, you can download it as a .crt file.

Click on the button in the final column of the respective table entry.
Save the file to a directory of your choice or directly open the file with a suitable tool.

Setting a key pair

To set a key pair, click on the button in the final column of the table entry.

The options for setting a key pair correspond to the options in Adding an Identity Store.

Setting a key certificate

To set a key certificate, click on the button in the final column of the table entry.

The options for setting a key certificate correspond to the options in Adding an Identity Store.

Adding issuer certificates

To add an issuer certificate, click on the button below the table of the corresponding Identity Store.

Select an input method. See Adding certificates and revocation lists.

Deleting issuer certificates

To delete an issuer certificate, click on the button of the certificate.
In the window that opens, click on the Remove button.

• Published/reviewed: 2024-02-27 ★ Revision 065 •