CERTivity FAQ
CERTivity
Being a Java based application, CERTivity could run anywhere where an Oracle JRE is available – this covers a wide range of systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac.
As there are many flavours of hardware, operating systems and versions available it is practically impossible to test each one of these. We have successfully run CERTivity on Micrososft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Linux Debian, Linux Ubuntu, Solaris Intel and Mac OS X. Both 32 and 64 bit OS distributions as well as JREs are supported.
Technical Support is provided via electronic mail at the following address: support@edulib.com. EduLib will use its best efforts to provide you with Technical Support within 2 working days of your request. Please check our web site to find our latest contact information.
CERTivity provides documentation in more format types:
- documentation file, CERTivity.pdf, contained in the doc subdirectory from the distribution kit;
- application help which can easily be accessed using the application’s Menu Help;
- many of the application’s components expose Context Sensitive Help (default F1), the Table of Contents tree being synchronized with the current context;
- a sample subdirectory of the documentation, where you can find samples for testing CERTivity features.
CERTivity being a GUI desktop application it requires a Graphical Interface to install and run.
- The minimum configuration required is: processor – 800MHz Intel Pentium III or equivalent, memory – 512 MB, disk space – 100 MB of free disk space.
- The recommended configuration is: processor – 2.6 GHz Intel Pentium IV or equivalent, memory – 2 GB, disk space – 200 MB of free disk space.
The available KeyStore types are:
- jks – Java KeyStore (Oracle’s KeyStore format);
- pkcs12 – Public-Key Cryptography Standards #12 KeyStore (RSA’s Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard);
- jceks – Java Cryptography Extension KeyStore (More secure version of JKS);
- bks – Bouncy Castle KeyStore (Bouncy Castle’s version of JKS);
- uber – Bouncy Castle UBER KeyStore (More secure version of BKS);
- Windows Root CA KeyStore;
- Windows User KeyStore.
CERTivity has the following main features and advantages:
- a GUI Representation of the security related items, allowing for visualizing in parallel the following types of models: KeyStores, individual Certificates and Test Certificate Scenarios. The GUI representation is taking advantage of the natural approach of using an IDE style interface;
- KeyStore management – The application is able to work with a wide range of KeyStores types: (JKS, JCEKS, PKCS #12, BKS, UBER and Windows native ones) and supports many KeyStore operations;
- support for many Certificates operations – for example: display certificate details, obtain the revocation status from the signing CA through CRL, test a certificate against a SSL connection, view ASN.1 and PEM representation and many more;
- sign and verify: JAR, PDF, XML and CSR files;
- export options for Key Pairs, Certificates Chains, Public and Private Keys, retrieve and export certificates from multiple sources into multiple formats.
CERTivity® is a powerful pure Java multi-platform visual KeyStores manager. This standalone GUI desktop application provides a natural experience for managing and using KeyStores, Certificates, KeyPairs (Private Key, Certificates Chain), Secret Keys in various formats. It covers and combines functions that otherwise are available through verbose command line tools or other operating system tools or browsers.
Thus developers and system administrator can gain valuable time and ensure the greatest productivity by letting CERTivity taking care of the low level details in a uniform manner on almost all the systems – Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac.
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We have different download packages depending on the platform: Windows, Linux/Unix, MAC OS. The packages can be seen on our site at the product download page.
The recommended CERTivity distribution for Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms (x86/AMD64) is the Installer with the embedded Java Runtime Environment (JRE) as everything is out of the box.
On Linux/Unix platforms after downloading the Installer you must make it executable, by opening a shell, going into the downloads directory (via cd) and running the command chmod +x, for example: chmod +x CERTivity-unix-0.2.sh.
Then you start the installer either from a visual file manager or from the command line by running the above executable script in the same directory, for example: ./CERTivity-unix-0.2.sh.
If you are using a plain archive distribution, then you need JRE 1.6 or higher from Oracle (Sun Microsystems) to be available on your machine. JRE needs to be installed according to Sun Microsystems (Oracle) instructions.
The configuration to be done for CERTivity is the setting of jdkhome property from ${certivity_home}/etc/certivity.confby uncommenting it and pointing it to the JRE path, for example (jdkhome=C:\Program Files\Java\jre7). If you are not configuring jdkhome, CERTivity will try to use the default location of JDK/JRE on the platform, but in case the target system has more Java distributions installed, it is safer to expressly point the jdkhome property to the exact location.
The standalone (non bundled JRE) Installer will need a JRE to start with and to set for CERTivity. If you are using the standalone Installer make sure your system has a Sun Microsystems (Oracle) JRE available for the user you intend to use to install CERTivity. If not, then please install JRE 1.6 or higher according to the Java vendors instructions.
The standalone Installer will automatically look for a suitable JRE on your platform for the installation itself and for configuring CERTivity to start with. The minimum required version is 1.6.
Yes, multiple CERTivity versions can be run on the same machine, each one being independent of the other because each application version has its own installation directory, its own Start Menu links, its own settings.
Yes, it is possible as a repairing process to install the same CERTivity version overwriting the previous installation. Also, if the previous installation was removed via the Uninstaller, you can install the same version of CERTivity as it would be for the first time. Note that the licenses details need not be re-inserted.
No, the embedded JRE is exclusively used for running the CERTivity application and is not affecting the existent applications.
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If you already have a license key installed, you can install another one using Menu Help > License > Install License Key.
Please note that you can not install a Trial licence over another Trial license or over a Commercial license.
CERTivity is a commercial product, which is also offered for Trial for 30 days. The trial registration is fully functional, except limitations on the number of keyStores that can be opened and created during an application instance (run). In order to be able to use a certain version of CERTivity permanently and without any limitation a commercial license is needed.
The license is per number of users and each user can use the software on more machines. If the License Key (File) is for more users, as the file is the same, each user will have to use that file to register the application.
A License Key (File) covers a major version and all its minor upgrades (e.g. 1.0, 1.1, 1.2…, but not 2.0).
Above the fully functional Free 30 Day Trial period to let you fully evaluate CERTivity before you make your purchase decision, in some instances but only within 30 days of purchase, we will, at your request, issue a refund.
Our orders are securely handled by our e-commerce and payment partner Avangate http://www.avangate.com. Avangate handles all the payment details in a safe and secure manner, starting from using SSL channels for communication up to anti-fraud screening procedures. Upon payment you will be redirected from our site to the Avangate site for the payment. You will benefit from multiple payment methods, 6 currencies and a localized user-friendly store (16 languages supported). If you want to purchase a license for more users you will get a discount according to the one specified on our web site https://www.edulib.com/tools/keystores-manager/. The price is automatically adjusted in your shopping cart depending on the quantity you select.
Our software delivery is electronic only. Even before the payment you can download the suitable setup package of the last CERTivity version. Shortly after the payment you will get via the e-mail the License Key (File) to activate your CERTivity copy – please store it in a secure place, as you may need it for future installations.
You will use the License Key (File) that you will have been receiving via e-mail to register your CERTivity application. You may be in one of the following scenario:
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On a certain machine, you have already installed CERTivity and run it registered with an unexpired Trial license. Then start the application and use the menu Help > License > Install License Key to change the License Key (File) to the one that you just purchased;
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On a certain machine, you have already installed CERTivity but the Trial license has expired. Then upon application start-up you will be prompted with an Install License Key dialog. There you will provide the License Key (File) that you just purchased;
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You don’t have any installation of CERTivity on the target machine or you have other previous major versions of CERTivity. Then you need to download and install the new major version of CERTivity. The installation is done in parallel, not overwriting the previous version. After the installation, upon the application start-up you will be prompted with an Install License Key dialog. There you will provide the License Key (File) that you just purchased.
If, at a later time, a new minor version is released you will just download and install it in parallel and it will be registered with the same License Key (File). If you need to install the new minor version on a different machine (used by the same user) you will need to use the License Key (File) that you initially received.
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We found the following bug reports:
https://bz.apache.org/netbeans/show_bug.cgi?id=271188
https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=8181199
https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=JDK-8179014
JDK-8181199 : JRE crashes when JFileChooser.showOpenDialog() is called and the “Godmode” folder is on the Desktop
They all describe the same issue for java 1.8.0_131 in certain conditions, like the existence of a “Godmode” folder or mapped network drive issues.
Since this is a bug for the java version – 1.8.0_131-b11 embedded within CERTivity, the fix consists in running CERTivity with an external java 8 with a newer build version than 131.
You can specify an external java to use for running CERTivity by editing the configuration file:
“C:\Program Files\EduLib\CERTivity 2.0\etc\certivity.conf”
and changing the value for “jdkhome” with the location of the external java (JDK or JRE). Restart CERTivity after making this change.
An example entry using OpenJDK 8, update 242:
jdkhome=”C:\Program Files\AdoptOpenJDK\jdk-8.0.242.08-hotspot”