How to Back Up Your Server Certificate

 

To back up your server certificates, you use the Export feature of Certificate Manager.

Before You Begin

Backing up a server certificate is just one step in configuring SSL. For an overview of the procedures you must follow to configure SSL, see "How to Use SSL to Secure the Communications Between the Client Messaging Applications and the Exchange Front-End Server" in the Exchange Server 2003 Client Access Guide.

Note

If you do not have Certificate Manager installed in Microsoft Management Console (MMC), see How to Add Certificate Manager to Microsoft Management Console. After you install Certificate Manager, you can back up your server certificate.

Procedure

To back up your server certificate

  1. Locate the correct certificate store. This store is typically the Local Computer store in Certificate Manager.

    Note

    When you have Certificate Manager installed, it points to the correct Local Computer certificate store.

  2. In the Personal store, click the certificate that you want to back up.

  3. On the Action menu, point to All tasks, and then click Export.

  4. In the Certificate Manager Export Wizard, click Yes, export the private key.

  5. Follow the wizard default settings, and enter a password for the certificate backup file when prompted.

    Note

    Do not select Delete the private key if export is successful because this option disables your current server certificate.

  6. Complete the wizard to export a backup copy of your server certificate.

For More Information

For conceptual information about how configuring SSL, see "Using Secure Sockets Layer" in "Securing Your Exchange Messaging Environment" in the Exchange Server 2003 Client Access Guide.

For detailed steps for adding Certificate Manager to MMC, see How to Add Certificate Manager to Microsoft Management Console.