Microsoft® Windows Server 2003: Administrator’s Companion

Public-Key Infrastructures

Now that you have looked at more basic security concepts, let’s examine some of the security-enabled protocols. In recent years, public-key infrastructures (PKIs) have gained momentum in both commercial and government sectors. Based on public-key technology, a PKI describes a system of public-key certificate generation and management, including distribution and revocation. The important elements of this infrastructure are certificate authorities (CAs) that issue certificates, clients that use certificates, and directories that store certificates. Many PKIs use a registration authority that ensures user identity and authorization before certificates are granted. Figure 20-1 shows a typical Microsoft Windows Server 2003 ...