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Certificate Lifecycle Management and Automation

Managing digital certificates does not have to be complicated. With modern tools and automation, the entire certificate lifecycle—from issuance to renewal—can be managed securely and without unnecessary administration. See what SSL/TLS and other certificate management and automation options are offered by DigiCert, KeyTalk, or Microsoft Azure.

Why Certificate Automation is Necessary

Manual management of digital certificates is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. With short certificate validity, which is soon to be only 47 days, manual management is out of the question. Modern organizations are therefore moving to automated certificate management, ensuring timely renewals, secure storage, and flawless integration into systems. At SSLmarket, we offer several proven solutions that allow you to have the entire certificate cycle under control—from issuance to their revocation.

DigiCert Trust Lifecycle Manager

Trust Lifecycle Manager is a comprehensive PKI platform from DigiCert that allows the management of public and private certificates across the entire organization. It offers automatic issuance, management, renewal, and revocation of certificates, including integration possibilities with internal systems and directories.

Advantages:

  • Next-generation service that allows integration with other popular services and tools
  • Support for all types of certificates (TLS, client, email, document...)
  • Automated issuance and renewal policies
  • Centralized overview and audit trail
  • Integration with Active Directory, DevOps tools, and other systems

More information about the Trust Lifecycle Manager can be found on its product page, and its documentation can be found here.

KeyTalk CKMS

KeyTalk Cloud Key Management System (CKMS) is a solution for the secure issuance and distribution of certificates to end devices. Especially suitable for managing client, S/MIME, or VPN certificates within a larger organization.

Advantages:

  • Universal solution that can be integrated with other CAs, but can also be used for internal CAs
  • Supports all types of certificates
  • Automatic installation of certificates on devices (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android endpoints)
  • Secure key storage in PKCS#12 or TPM/Smartcard
  • Lifecycle management including renewals and revocations
  • Integration with directory services and MDM systems

More about KeyTalk CKMS can be found on the product page.

DigiCert Automation Manager

DigiCert Automation Manager is a tool that operates on an agent-server architecture principle and is part of the DigiCert CertCentral platform. It enables the automatic issuance, deployment, and renewal of TLS certificates across the entire network.

Advantages:

  • User-friendly graphical interface and overview of automated certificates
  • Easy deployment of agents on servers (Linux, Windows)
  • Automatic detection and renewal of expired or invalid certificates
  • Full integration with CertCentral (audit, reports, policies)
  • Ability to work with both public and private certificates

More about the DigiCert Automation Manager can be found here.

ACME protocol

ACME (Automatic Certificate Management Environment) is an open protocol for the automation of TLS certificate management. DigiCert supports it within its infrastructure, allowing automatic issuance and renewal of certificates without manual intervention. ACME is entirely free for all customers! You can issue all types of certificates - DV, OV, and EV.

Advantages:

  • Fast and secure certificate issuance via standardized API, automatic domain verification
  • Immediately available and free for SSLmarket customers
  • Support for numerous client tools (e.g., Certbot, win-acme); hundreds of ACME agents available
  • Fully automated certificate renewals
  • Suitable for DevOps and CI/CD environments

How to use ACME with DigiCert can be found in the article Automation of certificate issuance and installation.

Azure Key Vault and integration with DigiCert CA

Azure Key Vault can be integrated with DigiCert CertCentral, allowing automatic issuance and storage of certificates directly into the Azure environment. They can then be used in your applications and servers, with external access also possible. The solution is suitable for cloud applications, containers, or web services running in Azure, as well as on-premise in your company.

Advantages:

  • Secure storage of certificates in Key Vault with controlled access
  • Integration with Azure DevOps and App Services
  • Automatic renewal and replacement of certificates without service outages
  • Connection to DigiCert as a trusted certification authority
  • It's an affordable solution because Key Vault costs can be zero

Details about Azure integration can be found in the article Connecting Azure Key Vault with DigiCert CA.

Conclusion

Automating certificate management is key to the secure and seamless operation of IT infrastructure. Whether you're looking for a solution for web services, internal systems, or end devices, at SSLmarket, we will help you choose and implement the right tailored solution.

Contact us if you want to implement certificate automation in your organization.

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