Security

How to Back Up Your Web Server Certificate

Because IIS 5.0 leverages Windows security and security tools, you can use the Certificate Manager tool in Windows 2000 Server to export your IIS 5.0 certificates. Historically, the Key Manager tool performed a backup; however, Key Manager is no longer used by IIS 5.0.

First you need to make sure you are looking at the correct Local Computer certificate store. If you are not, you will have to set this up before you can export certificates.

To view the correct certificate store

Open Microsoft Management Console.
Select the Add/Remove Snap-in option on the Console menu.
Click Add.
Select the Certificate Manager tool.
Click Add.
Select the Computer account option.
Select the Local computer option.
Click Finish, Close, then OK.

You are now looking at the correct certificate store.

To export a certificate

Click the Certificate Manager (Local Computer) node to expand it.
Click the Personal node to expand it, and then expand the Certificates node.
Right-click the certificate in question.
Select Export from the All tasks menu option.
Click Next.
Select Yes to export the private key.
Choose the PKCS #12 format and enable strong encryption.
Type and confirm your password.
Enter a file name.
Click Next, then click Finish.

How to Restore Your Web Server Certificate

You can restore certificates by simply double-clicking the PKCS #12 certificate file just created.