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Netscape Certificate Management System

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Chapter 2   Installation


This chapter explains how to install Netscape Certificate Management System (CMS).

This chapter contains the following sections:

Installation and Configuration Overview


You install Netscape Certificate Management System (CMS) on each host on which you will be setting up a CMS subsystem. You then configure the subsystem that will run on that host. Once a subsystem is setup, you can access its end-entity interface, agent services interface, and its administrative interface and further configure the instance to match the needs of your PKI.

Note: To install Netscape CMS and configure it into a Common Criteria Evaluated subsystem, please see Appendix B "Common Criteria Environment: Setup and Operations."

You can configure more than one subsystem in an installation of CMS. You can also install CMS on more than one host, with one or more subsystems configured in each installation. Finally, different instances of CMS subsystems can be set up as clones for high availability purposes. To install and configure one or more CMS subsystems as clones, please see Cloning a CA.

One of your deployment decisions is which subsystems you will install, how many of each type of subsystem you will configure, and on which hosts they will be installed. Once you decide this, you install CMS on each host you will be using, install each subsystem that will be run on that host, and then configure each of the subsystems on each host.

Installation and Configuration Process

The following outlines the process for installing, setting up, and configuring CMS:

  1. Run the installation program to install Administration Server, Directory Server, and CMS on each host system that will be part of your deployment. See Installing CMS for complete instructions on installing CMS.
  2. Configure each subsystem that will be running on each host. CMS provides an installation wizard for configuring an instance of each of the subsystems. Complete instructions for configuring each of the subsystems can be found at the following locations:
  3. Get the first agent certificate for the subsystem. See "Agent Certificates"" for complete instructions.
  4. Configure the instance for the particular needs of your PKI. For complete details on configuring each of the subsystems, see the chapter that describes that subsystem:

Installation Overview


This section provides information about the CMS installation, and provides information about things you need to consider and decide when installing CMS.

About the Installation Program

The installation program installs Administration Server, Directory Server, Netscape Console, and CMS in the server root directory you specify. It creates one instance of Administration Server, one instance of Directory Server, and one instance of CMS.

The installation program automatically starts Administration Server and Directory Server. Once installation is complete, you can use Netscape Console to view all your server settings, make changes to those settings, and configure CMS instances. See "The Administrative Interface" about accessing and logging into Netscape Console.

Installation Considerations

This section provides information needed to decide which settings to use when installing CMS.

System Requirements

See the Release Notes for the system requirements for this product.

Component Servers

The installation process installs Netscape Administration Server, Netscape Console, and Netscape Directory Server, as well as CMS.

You can choose to not install one or more of these servers if you already have one of them installed. Generally, you would install using the default settings, which installs all four products.

Server Groups

A server group is created when you install Administration Server. All servers are then installed in that server group. You can create more than one server group and install servers in each. You must have an Administration Server for each server group. Administration Server can use a local configuration directory or refer to an existing configuration directory installed elsewhere. See Managing Servers with Netscape Console for more information about server groups.

Server Root

The server root is the directory in which all servers for a particular group are installed. You specify the server root during installation.

Choosing Ports for Directory and Administration Servers

During installation, you choose port numbers for both the directory server used as the configuration directory, and the administration server. The port for the administration server is the port used to log into Netscape Console. Port numbers can be any number from 1 to 65535. Keep the following in mind when choosing a port number for your installation:

Deciding the User and Group for Your Netscape Servers

For security reasons, it is always best to run UNIX-based production servers with normal user privileges. That is, you do not want to run the servers with root privileges. However, you will have to run Directory Server with root privileges if you are using the default Directory Server ports. If Directory Server is to be started by Administration Server, Administration Server must run either as root or as the same user as Directory Server.

You must therefore decide what user accounts you will use for the following purposes:

You should use a common group for all Netscape servers, such as gid Netscape, to ensure that files can be shared between servers when necessary.

Before you can install Directory Server and Administration Server, you must make sure that the user and group accounts you will use exist on your system.

Defining Authentication Entities

As you install Directory Server and Administration Server, you will be asked for various user names, distinguished names (DN), and passwords. This list of login and bind entities will differ depending on the type of installation that you are performing:

Determining Your Directory Suffix

A directory suffix is the directory entry that represents the first entry in a directory tree. You will need at least one directory suffix for the tree that will contain your enterprise's data. It is common practice to select a directory suffix that corresponds to the DNS host name used by your enterprise. For example, if your organization uses the DNS name example.com, then select a suffix of dc=example,dc=com.

For the purposes of CMS, this suffix usually does not matter, unless you plan to store user information in this configuration directory. Normally you will not store users in this configuration directory. You only use this configuration directory to store configuration settings for the Administration Server that allow you to use Netscape Console to manage CMS.

For more information on planning the suffixes for your directory service, see the Netscape Directory Server Deployment Guide.

Installation Worksheet

You can use the following worksheet to specify the information you will be prompted for during the installation. The default setting is indicated in square brackets.

Install location [/usr/netscape/servers]

______________________________________

Computer name [myhost.mydomain.com]

______________________________________

System User [nobody]

______________________________________

System Group [nobody]

______________________________________

Directory Server Port Number

______________________________________

Directory server identifier [myhost]

______________________________________

Netscape configuration directory
server administrator ID [admin]


______________________________________

Suffix
[
dc=domaincomponent, dc=com]


______________________________________

Directory Manager DN
[
cn=Directory Manager]


______________________________________

Administration Domain [mydomain.com]

______________________________________

Administration port [random #]

______________________________________

Run Administration Server as
[current login]


______________________________________

Certificate Management System
identifier [certificate]


______________________________________



Installing CMS


To install CMS:

  1. Log in to the host system as the user ID you will be running the servers as. Note that you must be logged into the host locally. Do not install remotely.
  2. See "Deciding the User and Group for Your Netscape Servers" for more information.
     
  3. Go to the directory on the distribution CD or on your file system containing the CMS installation program (setup). Untar and/or unzip the distribution files if they are tarred and or zipped.
  4. Type the following command to start the installation program:
  5. ./setup
     
    The setup command has the following options:

    -h

    Prints out the help message.

    -s

    Specifies the silent installation mode.

    -f <filename>

    Specifies a silent installation script.

    -b

    Only install binaries without configuration

    -k

    Saves the installation cache. The cache will be saved to the file <temp>/install.inf.


     
    The installation program launches.
     

    Note  

    You can use the following commands during installation:

    • Control-B will take you back one screen in the installation.
    • Control-C will cancel the installation.
    • Most prompts have a default value shown in square brackets. To accept the default value, press Enter.



    The installation program will prompt you for series of configuration settings detailed in the following steps.
     
  6. Would you like to continue with installation? [Yes]: Press Enter.
  7. Do you agree to the license terms? [No]: Type yes and press Enter.
  8. Select the component you would like to install [1]: Accept the default to install the Netscape servers.
  9. Choose an installation type [2]: Accept the default for a typical installation.
  10. Install location [/usr/netscape/servers]: Enter the full path to the location in which you want to install the servers. The location that you enter must be different from the directory from which you are running the setup program. You must have write access to the directory. If the directory that you specify does not exist, the setup program creates it for you. This location is the server root for this installation. See "Server Root" for more information.
  11. Specify the components you wish to install [All]: Accept the default value, All, to accept the default server product components.
  12. Specify the components you wish to install [1,2,3]: Press Enter to accept the default components.
  13. Specify the components you wish to install [1,2]: Press Enter to accept the default components.
  14. Specify the components you wish to install [1,2]: Press Enter to accept the default components.
  15. Specify the components you wish to install [1,2]: Press Enter to accept the default components.
  16. Computer name [myhost.mydomain.com]: Accept the default value to install on the local machine. Do not attempt to install remotely.
  17. System User [nobody]: Enter the user ID that Directory Server will run as. See "Deciding the User and Group for Your Netscape Servers" for more information.
  18. System Group [nobody]: Enter the group that Directory Server will run as. See "Deciding the User and Group for Your Netscape Servers" for more information.
  19. Do you want to register this software with an existing Netscape configuration directory server? [No]: If you accept the default setting, the installation script installs a new instance of Directory Server for use as a configuration directory.
  20. You can also choose to use a previously installed configuration directory. In this case, select "Use existing configuration directory server," then fill in the values that identify and provide access to the previously installed directory.
     
  21. Do you want to use another directory to store your data? [No]: If you accept the default setting, the installation script either adds a user/group directory to the newly installed instance of Directory Server (if you accepted the default in step 17) or installs a new instance of Directory Server for use as a user/group directory.
  22. You can also choose to use a previously installed user/group directory. In this case, enter Yes, then fill in the values that identify and provide access to the previously installed directory.
     
  23. Directory server network port [random #]: Accept the default, which is either 389 or a randomly generated number, or enter any port number that is not and will not be used for another purpose.
  24. If you are using an existing configuration directory, enter its port number.
     
    See "Choosing Ports for Directory and Administration Servers" for more information.
     
  25. Directory server identifier [myhost]: Enter a unique identifier for the new instance of Directory Server.
  26. If you are using an existing configuration directory, enter its identifier.
     
  27. Netscape configuration directory server administrator ID [admin]: Enter the name and password of the user ID who will authenticate to Netscape Console with full privileges. The password must be at least eight characters long.
  28. If you are using an existing configuration directory, enter its administrator ID and password.
     
    See "Defining Authentication Entities" for more information.
     
  29. Suffix [dc=domaincomponent, dc=com]: Accept the default value for the suffix, or base DN, to be used for the directory tree. See "Determining Your Directory Suffix" for more information.
  30. Directory Manager DN [cn=Directory Manager]: Enter the distinguished name (DN) and password of the directory manager for the configuration directory. The password must be at least eight characters long.
  31. This DN can be short and does not need to conform to any suffix configured for your directory. It also should not correspond to an actual entry stored in your directory.
     
    See "Defining Authentication Entities" for more information.
     
  32. Administration Domain [mydomain.com]: Accept the default value. This domain name identifies the collection of servers that use the same configuration directory.
  33. Administration port [random #]: Accept the default port number, which is randomly generated, or enter any port number that is not and will not be used for another purpose. See "Choosing Ports for Directory and Administration Servers" for more information.
  34. Run Administration Server as [current login]: Enter the user ID for the Administration Server process. If you are running as root, you can accept the default to run the server as root.
  35. Certificate Management System identifier [certificate]: Enter a unique identifier for the new instance of CMS.
  36. The script extracts and installs the binaries for all of the servers in the server root directory and creates and starts instances of the Administration Server and Directory Server. For specifics on installing each subsystem, see:
     
  37. You should note the choices you made for later reference, especially the following:
  38. The installation logs are located in the directory:
  39. <server_root>/cert-<instance_id>/logs
     
    See "Logs" for more information.
     

Uninstalling CMS


To remove CMS from a host system, run the uninstall program. To remove a specific CMS instance, follow the instructions provided in Removing an Instance From a System.

To uninstall CMS:

  1. Log in as the user account under which the server is running.
  2. Go to the server root directory containing the installed software.
  3. Type the following command:
  4. ./uninstall.
     
  5. Specify the components you wish to uninstall [All]: Accept the default value.
  6. Specify the components you wish to uninstall [1,2,3]: Accept the default value.
  7. Specify the components you wish to uninstall [1,2]: Accept the default value.
  8. Specify the components you wish to uninstall [1,2]: Accept the default value.
  9. Specify the components you wish to uninstall [1,2]: Accept the default value.
  10. Configuration admin ID or DN [admin]: Accept the default value.

The uninstallation program starts.



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Last Updated November 23, 2004