Introduction to certificates

El Protocolo de Transferencia de Hipertexto Seguro (HTTPS) es una extensión del Protocolo de Transferencia de Hipertexto (HTTP) para la comunicación segura a través de una red informática. En HTTPS, el protocolo de comunicación está cifrado mediante Transport Layer Security (TLS), o su predecesor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

En el VMS XProtect, la comunicación segura se obtiene utilizando TLS/SSL con cifrado asimétrico (RSA).

TLS/SSL utiliza un par de claves, una privada y otra pública, para autenticar, asegurar y gestionar las conexiones seguras.

Una autoridad de certificación (CA) es cualquiera que pueda emitir certificados raíz. Puede tratarse de un servicio de Internet que emita certificados raíz, o de cualquier persona que genere y distribuya manualmente un certificado. Una CA puede emitir certificados para servicios web, es decir, para cualquier software que utilice la comunicación https. Este certificado contiene dos claves, una clave privada y una clave pública. La clave pública se instala en los clientes de un servicio web (clientes del servicio) mediante la instalación de un certificado público. La clave privada se utiliza para firmar los certificados del servidor que deben instalarse en el mismo. Siempre que un cliente de servicio llama al servicio web, el servicio web envía el certificado del servidor, incluida la clave pública, al cliente. El cliente de servicio puede validar el certificado del servidor utilizando el certificado de CA público ya instalado. El cliente y el servidor pueden ahora utilizar los certificados público y privado del servidor para intercambiar una clave secreta y establecer así una conexión segura TLS/SSL.

Para los certificados distribuidos manualmente, los certificados deben ser instalados antes de que el cliente pueda realizar dicha verificación.

Vea Seguridad de capa de transporte para tener más información sobre TLS.

In XProtect VMS, the following locations are where you can enable TLS/SSL encryption:

  • In the communication between the management server and the recording servers, event servers, and mobile servers
  • On the recording server in the communication with clients, servers, and integrations that retrieve data streams from the recording server
  • In the communication between clients and the mobile server

In this guide, the following are referred to as clients:

  • XProtect Smart Client
  • Management Client
  • Management Server (for System Monitor and for images and AVI video clips in email notifications)
  • XProtect Mobile Server
  • XProtect Event Server
  • XProtect LPR
  • Milestone Open Network Bridge
  • XProtect DLNA Server
  • Sites that retrieve data streams from the recording server through Milestone Interconnect
  • Third-party MIP SDK integrations that support HTTPS
  • For solutions built with MIP SDK 2018 R3 or earlier that access recording servers:
    • If the integrations are made using MIP SDK libraries, they need to be rebuilt with MIP SDK 2019 R1
    • If the integrations communicate directly with the Recording Server APIs without using MIP SDK libraries, the integrators must add HTTPS support themselves
    • If in doubt, ask your vendor who supplied the integration

    • Certificate distribution

    The graphic illustrates the basic concept of how certificates are signed, trusted, and distributed in XProtect VMS.

    A certificate authority (CA) is anyone who can issue root certificates. A CA certificate acts as a trusted third-party, trusted by both the subject/owner (server) and by the party that verifies the certificate (clients) (see Create CA certificate).

    The public certificate must be trusted on all client computers. In this way the clients can verify the validity of the certificates issued by the CA (see Install certificates on the clients).

    The CA certificate is used to issue private server authentication certificates to the servers (see Create SSL certificate).

    The created private SSL certificates must be imported to the Windows Certificate Store on all servers (see Import SSL certificate).

    Requirements for the private SSL certificate:

    • Issued to the server so that the server's host name is included in the certificate, either as subject (owner) or in the list of DNS names that the certificate is issued to
    • Trusted on all computers running services or applications that communicate with the service on the servers, by trusting the CA certificate that was used to issue the SSL certificate
    • The service account that runs the server must have access to the private key of the certificate on the server.

    Certificates have an expiry date. You will not receive a warning when a certificate is about to expire. If a certificate expires, the clients will no longer trust the server with the expired certificate and thus cannot communicate with it.
    To renew the certificates, follow the steps in this guide as you did when you created certificates.