As of writing, on Aviatrix Controller version 7.1.2131 and CoPilot v4.3.1, the current process of installing a certificate:

1. For Aviatrix Controller
   • By default, the Aviatrix Controller uses a self-signed certificate. In this case, an option to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) will be available.  The CSR requires the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the controller, e.g., avx-controller.mycompany.com.  When the CSR is generated, the controller will also generate and store a corresponding private key.  The generated CSR is supplied to the Certificate Authority (CA) which will return a signed public certificate.  In addition to this certificate, a CA certificate (generally publicly available from the CA) will also be required during the import process.
   • If a public certificate is already installed, you can no longer generate a CSR without first reverting to a self-signed certificate.
   • There is also an option to import an externally generated private key with corresponding public and CA certs. 
2. For Aviatrix CoPilot
   • The Copilot does not support the generation of CSR’s.  Instead, an externally generated private key and corresponding CA-signed public key are required for importation. 

The processes above can be challenging for customers, especially when renewing existing certificates.  This confusion is compounded by the variety of different certificate types of Certification Authorities, certificate formats and operating system tools.

This blog intends to create a more standardized process for Aviatrix Customers to follow.