How to create an SSL CSR with a 2048 bit key

To Generate a Triple-DES Encrypted key pair and a certificate signing request (CSR) with a 2048 bit key length, firstly you will need to generate a key. For this use the following command, please make a note of the pass phrase as the key and CSR are useless without it:

openssl genrsa -des3 -out servername.key 2048

Next we will use the key to generate a CSR, using the following command:

openssl req -new -key servername.key -out servername.csr

This CSR can now be used to submit to SSL vendors to create strong certificates.

Last updated: 15/03/2011