Deploy Server Certificates to the GlobalProtect Components

Import a server certificate from a well-known, third-party CA.
Use a server certificate from a well-known, third-party CA for the GlobalProtect portal. This practice ensures that the end users are able to establish an HTTPS connection without seeing warnings about untrusted certificates.
The CN and, if applicable, the SAN fields of the certificate must match the FQDN or IP address of the interface where you plan to configure the portal or the device check-in interface on a third-party mobile endpoint management system. Wildcard matches are supported.
Before you import a certificate, make sure the certificate and key files are accessible from your management system and that you have the passphrase to decrypt the private key.
Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
and
Import
a new certificate.
Use the
Local
certificate type (default).
Enter a
Certificate Name
.
Enter the path and name to the
Certificate File
received from the CA, or
Browse
to find the file.
Set the
File Format
to
Encrypted Private Key and Certificate (PKCS12)
.
Enter the path and name to the PKCS#12 file in the
Key File
field or
Browse
to find it.
Enter and re-enter the
Passphrase
that was used to encrypt the private key.
Click
OK
to import the certificate and key.
Create the root CA certificate for issuing self-signed certificates for the GlobalProtect components.
Create the Root CA certificate on the portal and use it to issue server certificates for the gateways and, optionally, for clients.
Before deploying self-signed certificates, you must create the root CA certificate that signs the certificates for the GlobalProtect components:
Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
and
Generate
a new certificate.
Use the
Local
certificate type (default).
Enter a
Certificate Name
, such as GlobalProtect_CA. The certificate name cannot contain spaces.
Do not select a value in the
Signed By
field. Without a selection for
Signed By
, the certificate is self-signed.
Enable the
Certificate Authority
option.
Click
OK
to generate the certificate.
Use the root CA on the portal to generate a self-signed server certificate.
Generate server certificates for each gateway you plan to deploy and optionally for the management interface of the third-party mobile endpoint management system (if this interface is where the gateways retrieve HIP reports).
In the gateway server certificates, the values in the CN and SAN fields must be identical. If the values differ, the GlobalProtect agent detects the mismatch and does not trust the certificate. Self-signed certificates contain a SAN field only if you add a
Host Name
attribute.
Alternatively, you can Use Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) to request a server certificate from your enterprise CA.
Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
and
Generate
a new certificate.
Use the
Local
certificate type (default).
Enter a
Certificate Name
. This name cannot contain spaces.
In the
Common Name
field, enter the FQDN (
recommended
) or IP address of the interface where you plan to configure the gateway.
In the
Signed By
field, select the GlobalProtect_CA you created.
In the Certificate Attributes area,
Add
and define the attributes that uniquely identify the gateway. Keep in mind that if you add a
Host Name
attribute (which populates the SAN field of the certificate), it must be the same as the value you defined for the
Common Name
.
Configure cryptographic settings for the server certificate, including the encryption
Algorithm
, key length (
Number of Bits
),
Digest
algorithm, and
Expiration
(days).
Click
OK
to generate the certificate.
Use Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) to request a server certificate from your enterprise CA.
Configure separate SCEP profiles for each portal and gateway you plan to deploy. Then use the specific SCEP profile to generate the server certificate for each GlobalProtect component.
In portal and gateway server certificates, the value of the CN field must include the FQDN (
recommended
) or IP address of the interface where you plan to configure the portal or gateway and must be identical to the SAN field.
To comply with the U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), you must also enable mutual SSL authentication between the SCEP server and the GlobalProtect portal. (FIPS-CC operation is indicated on the firewall login page and in its status bar.)
After you commit the configuration, the portal attempts to request a CA certificate using the settings in the SCEP profile. If successful, the firewall hosting the portal saves the CA certificate and displays it in the list of
Device Certificates
.
Configure a SCEP Profile for each GlobalProtect portal or gateway:
Enter a
Name
that identifies the SCEP profile and the component to which you deploy the server certificate. If this profile is for a firewall with multiple virtual systems capability, select a virtual system or
Shared
as the
Location
where the profile is available.
(
Optional
) Configure a
SCEP Challenge
, which is a response mechanism between the PKI and portal for each certificate request. Use either a
Fixed
challenge password that you obtain from the SCEP server or a
Dynamic
password where the portal-client submits a username and OTP of your choice to the SCEP Server. For a Dynamic SCEP challenge, this can be the credentials of the PKI administrator.
Configure the
Server URL
that the portal uses to reach the SCEP server in the PKI (for example,
http://10.200.101.1/certsrv/mscep/
).
Enter a string (up to 255 characters in length) in the
CA-IDENT Name
field to identify the SCEP server.
Enter the
Subject
name to use in the certificates generated by the SCEP server. The subject must include a common name (CN) key in the format
CN=
<
value
>
where
<
value
>
is the FQDN or IP address of the portal or gateway.
Select the
Subject Alternative Name Type
. To enter the email name in a certificate’s subject or Subject Alternative Name extension, select
RFC 822 Name
. You can also enter the
DNS Name
to use to evaluate certificates, or the
Uniform Resource Identifier
to identify the resource from which the client will obtain the certificate.
Configure additional cryptographic settings, including the key length (
Number of Bits
), and
Digest
algorithm for the certificate signing request.
Configure the permitted uses of the certificate, either for signing (
Use as digital signature
) or encryption (
Use for key encipherment
).
To ensure that the portal is connecting to the correct SCEP server, enter the
CA Certificate Fingerprint
. Obtain this fingerprint from the SCEP server interface in the Thumbprint field.
Enable mutual SSL authentication between the SCEP server and the GlobalProtect portal.
Click
OK
and then
Commit
the configuration.
Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
and then click
Generate
.
Enter a
Certificate Name
. This name cannot contain spaces.
Select the
SCEP Profile
to use to automate the process of issuing a server certificate that is signed by the enterprise CA to a portal or gateway, and then click
OK
to generate the certificate. The GlobalProtect portal uses the settings in the SCEP profile to submit a CSR to your enterprise PKI.
Assign the server certificate you imported or generated to an SSL/TLS service profile.
Select
Device
Certificate Management
SSL/TLS Service Profile
and
Add
a new SSL/TLS service profile.
Enter a
Name
to identify the profile, and select the server
Certificate
you imported or generated.
Define the range of SSL/TLS versions (
Min Version
to
Max Version
) for communication between GlobalProtect components.
To provide the strongest security, set the
Min Version
to
TLSv1.2
.
Click
OK
to save the SSL/TLS service profile.
Commit
the changes.
Deploy the self-signed server certificates.
Export the self-signed server certificates issued by the root CA on the portal and import them onto the gateways.
Be sure to issue a unique server certificate for each gateway.
If specifying self-signed certificates, you must distribute the Root CA certificate to the end clients in the portal client configurations.
Export the certificate from the portal:
Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
.
Select the gateway certificate you want to deploy, and then click
Export Certificate
.
Set the
File Format
to
Encrypted Private Key and Certificate (PKCS12)
.
Enter and confirm a
Passphrase
to encrypt the private key.
Click
OK
to download the PKCS12 file to a location of your choice.
Import the certificate on the gateway:
Select
Device
Certificate Management
Certificates
Device Certificates
and
Import
the certificate.
Enter a
Certificate Name
.
Browse
to find and select the
Certificate File
you downloaded in the previous step.
Set the
File Format
to
Encrypted Private Key and Certificate (PKCS12)
.
Enter and confirm the
Passphrase
you used to encrypt the private key when you exported it from the portal.
Click
OK
to import the certificate and key.
Commit
the changes for the gateway.