Northwestern IT participates in the InCommon Certificate Program, which entitles Northwestern to issue unlimited SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificates for 1 year to secure Web Servers on the northwestern.edu domain.
Features and Benefits
The InCommon Certificate Service makes the following products available:
- Standard SSL/TLS Server certificates
- Multi-Domain Certificates supporting up to 100 Subject Alternative Names (SAN)
- Wildcard certificates (restrictions apply)
Available to
- Any member of the University community with a valid Northwestern e-mail address can request an SSL certificate through this program.
Cost
SSL Certificates are offered for a one year period at no additional cost to University schools and administrative units.
How to Request Service
Members of the University must contact the DRAO for their area to request an SSL Certificate. Depending on the CSR process for participating schools and administrative units, server owners may be able to self-enroll for certificates.
Upon approval, applicants will receive an e-mail from InCommon which contains a link to the certificate collection form. Once the appropriate certificate ID is entered, the SSL certificate can be downloaded and installed for the northwestern.edu domain. View the InCommon SSL Certificate Request Workflow.
Note: Approved requests are processed by InCommon within two to three business days.
Certificate Signing Requests
Each University school or administrative unit interested in using the InCommon SSL Certificate Service must delegate a maximum of two (one primary and one back-up) Departmental Registration Authority Officers (DRAOs) entrusted to authenticate applicants and review and approve Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) through a secure Web interface.
TDNext permission is required to access the internal IT KB article: Departmental Registration Authority Officers (DRAOs)
Support Resources
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Technical support and troubleshooting is provided by Sectigo, the InCommon SSL Certificate Service vendor, via e-mail, a Web ticketing system, and telephone.
The Sectigo Web site includes a Knowledge Base and step-by-step troubleshooting guide for registered users.