Planning Core CA Options

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Before you can establish a CA infrastructure that meets the security needs and certificate requirements for your organization, you need to make decisions about a number of core CA options that are available. Planning the CA infrastructure for your organization involves making decisions about the following:

  • Location of the root certification authorities.

  • Internal versus third-party CAs.

  • Requirements for CA capacity, performance, and scalability.

  • Your Active Directory structure.

  • Your PKI management model.

  • CA types and roles.

  • Use of hardware cryptographic service providers.

  • Number of CAs required.