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Version: v1.28.x LTS

Troubleshooting the certificate configuration

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Troubleshooting the certificate configuration

The following topic provides the information that can help you troubleshoot problems when you encounter errors or warnings in configuring certificates.

Configuring a certificate that uses an external certificate authority (CA)​

Symptom

When you configure the Zowe certificate with an external certificate that is signed by an external CA, you might encounter the following error.

_ZWED:16843383 ZWESVUSR WARN (zsf.apiml,apiml.js:195) Error: write EPROTO 1976209423206449153:error:14094416:SSL routines:ssl3_read_bytes:sslv3 alert certificate unknown:../deps/openssl/openssl/ssl/record/rec_layer_s3.c:1544:SSL alert number 46
at WriteWrap.onWriteComplete Ýas oncomplete¨ (internal/stream_base_commons.js:87:16) {
errno: 'EPROTO',
code: 'EPROTO',
syscall: 'write'

Solution

This error is caused because the external certificate is not imported into the truststore.

You can follow these steps to resolve the issue.

  1. Download the external certificate when your browser is pointed to the Zowe virtual Desktop.

  2. Save this certificate in a USS file. For example, the file is named as public.cer-ebcdic here.

  3. Run the following command in the <Keystore_Directory> to import this certificate into the Zowe truststore, localhost.truststore.p12.

keytool -import -alias public1 -file public.cer-ebcdic -storetype PKCS12 -storepass xxxxxx -keystore localhost.truststore.p12

Note

The configuration is a part in zowe-setup-certificates.env file. You must make sure that EXTERNAL_CERTIFICATE_ALIAS is not blank.

EXTERNAL_CERTIFICATE=/path/to/keystore.p12
# It should be PKCS12 (.p12) file.
EXTERNAL_CERTIFICATE_ALIAS=servercert
# It should be in the .p12 file.
KEYSTORE_PASSWORD=mypass
# It should be the password of .p12 file.
EXTERNAL_CERTIFICATE_AUTHORITIES="/path/to/cacert_1.cer /path/to/cacert_2.cer"
# It should be the public certificates of trusted CAs, base64 (.pem or .cer).
ZOSMF_CERTIFICATE= 
# It should be base64 (.pem or .cer).
  1. Restart Zowe and check whether the error is resolved.

PKCS 12 server keystore generation fails in Java 8 SR7FP15, SR7 FP16, and SR7 FP20​

Symptoms

When you let Zowe server installs create a PKCS12 keystore, the keystore that is generated cannot be read by ZSS. Then, parts of Zowe cannot be used.

Solutions

This error occurs because of the incompatibility which is found between Java and GSK regarding cryptography.

You can try one of the following options if you are affected by this error.

  • Temporarily downgrade Java, for example, to Java 7.

  • Use the flags as below when generating a keystore.

-J-Dkeystore.pkcs12.certProtectionAlgorithm=PBEWithSHAAnd40BitRC2 -J-
Dkeystore.pkcs12.certPbeIterationCount=50000 -J-
Dkeystore.pkcs12.keyProtectionAlgorithm=PBEWithSHAAnd3KeyTripleDES -J-
Dkeystore.pkcs12.keyPbeIterationCount=50000
  • Set the flag keystore.pkcs12.legacy enabled with no value to create a PKCS12 keystore that can be loaded.

Notes

If you already have an existing keystore or you are using keyrings, this error will not happen.

If you do not use ZSS, this error will not happen because ZSS is on by default.

If you already use your own PKCS12 files instead of the files that Zowe generates for you, this error will not happen.

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