(DC) Creating Certificate Signing Requests (CSR)
Overview
This section attempts to explain the process of generating a certificate signing request (CSR) and private key that is used when requesting an SSL certificate. Below you will find a ever-evolving a list of platforms, operating systems, and applications specific instructions for generating CSRs.
If you have a link to steps for generating a CSR for a specific application or operating system, please share it with us and we will add it. If you need specific operating system or application instructions for generating a CSR and can not find them, please contact us.
During the generation process, you will be asked to provide university specific information, which is listed below.
Every certificate requires a Common Name or FQDN.
Common name |  This is the "fully qualified domain name" (FQDN) or the URL for which you want to generate a certificate. |
All certificates created for University use always includes the following:
Organization | The University of Texas at Austin |
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The other two fields that are specific to the owning department and the Common Name (CN) or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). The Common Name (domain name or FQDN) and the Division is the only information that changes within the University. The Division only changes when a certificate is for a department outside of Information Technology Services.
Example, for certificates used on servers or application run by Campus Solutions or Information Technology Services (ITS), the following is used:
Common Name |
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Division or | N/A This field has depreciated and is no longer required to generate a CSR as of September 1, 2022. The governing body for certificate issuance (CA/B Forum) concluded that “Organizational Unit” is a concept internal to a company and therefore lacks credible, outside information sources for a Certificate Authority (CA) to verify. Some older platforms, operating systems, and applications may still require this field to have a value, but it will be ignored and not added to the certificate when submitted.
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