ADSS Server is an Ascertia product and it is the main engine where the core cryptography is implemented. It is used to configure the Certificate Authorities (CA), issue Certificate Revocation List (CRLs), provides the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responses, creating digital signatures and also supports many other PKI functions. ADSS Server has a number of different PKI services and each service servers a different purpose. The administrators are required to create a connector to communicate with an ADSS Server service. The ADSS Web RA supports the communication with the following ADSS Server services to serve the purpose:


  • Certification Service - This the most commonly used ADSS Server service with Web RA. It is used to configure the Certificate Templates, CA Profiles, Publish CRLs and provide the revocation via OCSP
  • CSP Service - Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) service is an Ascertia service that stores the cryptographic keys securely. It is also integrated with Microsoft CSP and you use this for the document signing and authentication from the Windows natively. 


A connector is required in ADSS Web RA Admin to communicate with the respective ADSS Server instance.


Create an ADSS Server Connector


  1. Click External Services from the left menu.
  2. Click Connectors.
  3. Click  from the grid header. 
  4. A dialog will appear to add the connector details. The connector dialog consists of two screens, i.e. Basic Information and Details. Specify the basic information and click Next to provide the respective connector details. See the below table for fields description.
  5. A Test Connection button is also available. Click it to check if the configurations are correct or not. If the configurations are correct, a roaster message ADSS connection is working, otherwise it will display a message ADSS Connection is not working i.e. if the configurations are not correct. 
  6. Click Create. A new connector will be saved and displayed in the list.


Basic Information

Field

Description

Name

Specify a unique name for this connector, i.e. My ADSS Server. This connector will be used in the ADSS Service Profiles.

Provider

Select the provider for this connector, i.e. "ADSS Server".

Active

Tick this check box to make this connector active. Inactive connectors cannot be configured in the Certification or CSP Profiles.




Details

Field

Description

Server Address

Specify the address and port number of ADSS Server.

ADSS Server support the three communication protocols and ports and following are the addresses:

Client ID

Specify the Client ID that has been configured in the Client Manager module of the ADSS Server for this connector

Client Secret (optional)

Specify the client secret that has been generated in the ADSS Server against this Client ID

TLS Mutual Auth Key (PFX/ PKCS#12)

If mutual authentication is required, browse the client authentication key. Leave this field blank, if mutual authentication is not required.

TLS Client Certificate Password

Specify the password of the client authentication key. Leave this field blank, if mutual authentication is not required.

Request Signing Key (PFX/ PKCS#12)

If request signing key is required, browse the request signing PFX. Leave this field blank, if request signing is not required.

Request Signing Key Password

Specify the password of the request signing key PFX. Leave this field blank, if request signing is not required.

Timeout (seconds)

Specify a timeout (in seconds) for ADSS Server, i.e. 300. ADSS Web RA will display an error message to the end users after the specified time, in case this ADSS Server is unresponsive to a certification request.