This blog post has been written by Shine KA and Hrushi Keshava HS
Latest iDRAC7 firmware (1.50.50 onwards) now has a provision to store iDRAC SSL certificates while launching iDRAC Virtual Console and Virtual Media. Instead of saving iDRAC SSL certificates to IE / JAVA trust store, You have an option to save certificates you trust in a folder of your choice. This allows you to save several iDRAC certificates to the certificate store. Once you trust and save the certificate, you will no longer get a certificate warning message while launching iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media. This behavior is available on Active-X and Java Plugins. Also, there is no need to save the iDRAC SSL certificate on the certificate store.
While launching Virtual Console / Virtual Media, iDRAC must first validate iDRAC SSL certificate. If the certificate is not trusted, then iDRAC will check if there is any certificate store configured for iDRAC. If the certificate store is not configured, iDRAC will launch Virtual Console / Virtual Media with a certificate warning window. If certificate store is configured, iDRAC will compare current iDRAC SSL certificate with any of the stored certificates in certificate store. If a match is found, iDRAC Virtual Console will be launched without any certificate warning. If there is no matched certificate, iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media will show a certificate warning, with an option to always trust the certificate. When you always trust the certificate, the current iDRAC SSL certificate will be stored in configured certificate store, and you will not see the certificate warning the next time you launch the iDRAC Virtual Console / Virtual Media.
There are three easy steps to configure certificate store.
STEP 1: Launching Virtual Console for first time
When you launch Virtual Console for first time and iDRAC SSL certificate is not trusted, a certificate warning window will be shown. This window describes about the certificate information and steps to configure certificate store.
Note: Details will give you more information about certificate like version, serial number, validity and more.
STEP 2: Configuring Certificate Store on iDRAC
After launching Virtual Console, navigates to Tools -> Session Options -> Certificate. Here you can choose the path where trusted certificate need to be stored.
Note: Details will give you more information about Current session’s certificate like version, serial number, validity, and more.
STEP 3: Launching Virtual Console with certificate store configured
After specifying the certificate store location, the next time you launch Virtual Console a “warning security” window will pop up with option to “Always Trust this certificate”. You have an option to save this certificate to store by enabling this checkbox. Once certificate is trusted, you will no longer see the Certificate warning message.
SUMMARY:
By following these simple steps, you can quickly remove the certificate warning page and have peace of mind that you are accessing your iDRAC securely.