When you generate a certificate, as described in the section above, the LoadMaster creates a .pem file. For certificate-based authentication to work with PowerShell, a .pfx file is required.

You can convert the .pem file to .pfx any way you like. For the purposes of this document, we have provided steps on how to do it using OpenSSL. If you are using Windows, you may need to install OpenSSL to run these steps.

To create a .pfx file using, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the .pem certificate.
  2. Copy from the start of the -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- section to the end of the -----END CERTIFICATE----- section.
  3. Paste this text into a new file.
  4. Save the file as <CerFileName>.cer.
  5. Go to the .pem certificate file again.
  6. Copy from the start of the -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- section to the end of the -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY----- section.
  7. Paste this text into a new file.
  8. Save the file as <KeyFileName>.key.
  9. Use the openssl command to create the .pfx file:
    openssl pkcs12 -export -out <NewFileName>.pfx -inkey <KeyFilename>.key -in <CerFileName>.cer
  10. Import the certificate to the web browser.