General OpenSSL Commands

These commands allow you to generate CSRs, Certificates, Private Keys and do other miscellaneous tasks.

1) Generate a new private key and Certificate Signing Request
#openssl req -out CSR.csr -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout privateKey.key

2)Generate a self-signed certificate (see How to Create and Install an Apache Self Signed Certificate for more info)
#openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout privateKey.key -out certificate.crt

3) Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for an existing private key
#openssl req -out CSR.csr -key privateKey.key -new

4) Generate a certificate signing request based on an existing certificate
#openssl x509 -x509toreq -in certificate.crt -out CSR.csr -signkey privateKey.key

5) Remove a passphrase from a private key
#openssl rsa -in privateKey.pem -out newPrivateKey.pem

Checking Using OpenSSL

If you need to check the information within a Certificate, CSR or Private Key, use these commands. You can also check CSRs and check certificates using our online tools.

1) Check a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
#openssl req -text -noout -verify -in CSR.csr

2) Check a private key
#openssl rsa -in privateKey.key -check

3) Check a certificate
#openssl x509 -in certificate.crt -text -noout

4) Check a PKCS#12 file (.pfx or .p12)
#openssl pkcs12 -info -in keyStore.p12