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Loading...What Is a PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) File & How to Create It?
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PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) Is the Base64 Encoded DER Certificate Used by Webservers
SSL has been around for many years. After years of the push by the popular browser like Google to make SSL mandatory, simple websites have also learned how vital SSL certificate is. Henceforth, most website owners have started getting an SSL certificate once their website is built.
But, many are new when it comes to SSL certificates, and it’s highly possible they may hang up with several cybersecurity complexities. And among complexities, one such complexity is of the .PEM file.
So, if you’re among those wondering what a .pem file is, how to create a pem file, or any other question related to it, then keep reading. We’re going to cover all of it.
What Is a PEM File?
Once your SSL certificate gets issued, CA (Certificate Authority) like Comodo SSL and Sectigo SSL sends different files along with a CAs intermediate certificate, server certificate, and the private key. Likewise, such files get encoded within a single file “container.” One such container file type is PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail).
Privacy Enhanced Mail is one of the container formats for keys and digital certificates. Usually, Apache and other web server platforms use it. In other words, PEM is a file extension comprising multiple certificate files.
Read Also: P7M File Extension – What Is It & How to Open & Read It?Likewise, the PEM file is majorly used by X.509 certificates, and it’s one of the text files containing Base64 encoding of the text within the certificate, like a plain text header and footer that marks the beginning and end of the certificate.
Privacy Enhanced Mail is a popular format for storing and transferring digital certificates, including SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates, because it is easy to use and widely supported.
How PEM Files are Different and Important?
Some of the reasons why PEM is popular include:
ASCII Encoding
PEM files are encoded in ASCII text, which makes them easy to read and share. ASCII is a widely used character encoding system, and PEM files can be easily opened and edited with any text editor.
Compatibility
PEM files are compatible with most operating systems and applications, making storing and transferring digital certificates convenient.
Human-Readable
PEM files are human-readable, meaning they can be easily understood and interpreted by people. This makes them a good choice for storing and transferring digital certificates, as it is easy to see the information in the file.
Widely Supported
PEM is a widely used format supported by most web browsers, servers, and other applications. This makes it a convenient choice for storing and transferring digital certificates, as it is compatible with many systems.
Overall, the popularity of PEM is due to its convenience, compatibility, and wide support, which make it a good choice for storing and transferring digital certificates.
Given so many advantages PEM offers, it only makes sense to use a PEM-format SSL certificate. So how is it possible? Well, your answer is OpenSSL.
What is OpenSSL?
It is a free, open-source cryptographic library and SSL toolkit widely used to implement the security protocols that are used to secure communication over the Internet.
Also Read: Basic OpenSSL Commands – A Complete Guide
It is often used to create digital certificates and manage SSL/TLS connections, which secure communication between clients and servers, such as web browsers.
OpenSSL is written in C and available for many platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. It is a powerful tool used by system administrators, network engineers, and developers to secure their systems and applications.
Examples of .PEM File:
Private Key
-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- MIIEvgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKgwggSkAgEAAoIBAQDBj08sp5++4anGcmQxJjAkBgNVBAoTHVByb2dyZXNzIFNvZnR3YXJlIENvcnBvcmF0aW9uMSAwHgYDVQQDDBcqLmF3cy10ZXN0LnByb2dyZXNzLmNvbTCCASIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADbml6YXRpb252YWxzaGEyZzIuY3JsMIGgBggrBgEFBQcBAQSBkzCBkDBNBggrBgEFBQcwAoZBaHR0cDovL3NlY3VyZS5nbG9iYWxzaWduLmNvbS9jYWNlcnQvZ3Nvcmdh z3P668YfhUbKdRF6S42Cg6zn -----END PRIVATE KEY-----
CAs Certificate for the Server
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIFaDCCBFCgAwIBAgISESHkvZFwK9Qz0KsXD3x8p44aMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAVQQDDBcqLmF3cy10ZXN0LnByb2dyZXNzLmNvbTCCASIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADggEPADCCAQoCggEBAMGPTyynn77hqcYnjWsMwOZDzdhVFY93s2OJntMbuKTHn39Bbml6YXRpb252YWxzaGEyZzIuY3JsMIGgBggrBgEFBQcBAQSBkzCBkDBNBggrBgEFBQcwAoZBaHR0cDovL3NlY3VyZS5nbG9iYWxzaWduLmNvbS9jYWNlcnQvZ3Nvcmdhbml6YXRpb252YWxzaGEyZzJyMS5jcnQwPwYIKwYBBQUHMAGGM2h0dHA6Ly9vY3NwlffygD5IymCSuuDim4qB/9bh7oi37heJ4ObpBIzroPUOthbG4gv/5blW3Dc= -----END CERTIFICATE-----
Trust Chain Intermediate Certificate
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIEaTCCA1GgAwIBAgILBAAAAAABRE7wQkcwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQAwVzELMAkGC33JiJ1Pi/D4nGyMVTXbv/Kz6vvjVudKRtkTIso21ZvBqOOWQ5PyDLzm+ebomchjSHh/VzZpGhkdWtHUfcKc1H/hgBKueuqI6lfYygoKOhJJomIZeg0k9zfrtHOSewUjdHBzOi8vd3d3Lmdsb2JhbHNpZ24uY29tL3JlcG9zaXRvcnkvMDMGA1UdHwQsMCowKKAmoCSGImh0dHA6Ly9jcmwuZ2xvYmFsc2lnbi5uZXQvcm9vdC5jcmwwPQYIKwYB K1pp74P1S8SqtCr4fKGxhZSM9AyHDPSsQPhZSZg= -----END CERTIFICATE-----
Trust Chain Root Certificate
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIIDdTCCAl2gAwIBAgILBAAAAAABFUtaw5QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQAwVzELMAkGYWxTaWduIG52LXNhMRAwDgYDVQQLEwdSb290IENBMRswGQYDVQQDExJHbG9iYWxTaWduIFJvb3QgQ0EwggEiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IBDwAwggEKAoIBAQDaDuaZjc6j40+Kfvvxi4Mla+pIH/EqsLmVEQS98GPR4mdmzxzdzxtIK+6NiY6arymAZavp38NflNUVyRRBnMRddWQVDf9VMOyGj/8N7yy5Y0b2qvzfvGn9LhJIZJrglfCm7ymP HMUfpIBvFSDJ3gyICh3WZlXi/EjJKSZp4A== -----END CERTIFICATE-----
How to Create a PEM File?
Sometimes servers don’t support other file formats except for PEM files. Henceforth, you don’t have any option but to have a PEM file ready. Likewise, if you’re questioning how to create a it, then no worries, it’s pretty simple. Here, below are the steps you need to follow for creating a PEM file:
Download the intermediate, root, primary certificate, and private key files that you received from Certificate Authority (CA), such as Sectigo or Comodo.
Open a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++ and paste the entire content of all the certificate files one by one along with the private key in the order mentioned below:
The Private Key
The Main SSL Certificate
An Intermediate Certificate
The Root Certificate
Starting & Ending tags like below:
—–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—–
(Your Private Key)
—–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—–
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
(Your Primary SSL certificate)
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
(Your Intermediate certificate)
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
(Your Root certificate)
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
Furthermore, save your file similar to your domain name with a .pem extension like example_domain_name.pem, and that’s it. Your PEM certificate is created.
What’s the Use of .PEM File?
PEM files help store SSL certificates and their associated private key. Likewise, you can store multiple credentials with an entire SSL chain. It’s the file used in servers like Nginx and Apache to encrypt HTTPS.
How Secure Is PEM File?
Privacy Enhanced Mail is a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) file used for certificates and keys. It was initially invented for making email messages secure, but now it’s one of the Intranet security standards.
Is .PEM File Similar to Key File?
No, both are different. Critical files are usually private keys used for encrypting and packaging data for further verifications by clients. PEM files are the public key clients use to verify and decrypt data or information sent by servers.
How to Read a .PEM File?
It is an encoded certificate that contains blocks of encoded texts that have all the information and public key of the certificate. And one of the simplest ways is to double-click and open it using the text editor.
