eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by SSLCertExpiryTest

SSL certificates are important to maintain the confidentiality of data and also organization's reputation and integrity. The SSL certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to organization’s details. With the SSL certificates, data is encrypted prior to being transmitted via Internet, and the encrypted data can be decrypted only by the application server to which you actually send it. This ensures that the information you transmit will not be stolen. Typically, the SSL certificates are prepared with a specific validity time beyond which the connections will be no longer secure. If the certificates are suddenly expires, the users will no longer be able to access the applications and encounter the applications with the expired SSL certificate. To avoid this, administrators should proactively identify certificates nearing expiry and renew the certificates before expiry. This is where the SSLCertExpiryTest test helps administrators!

This test monitors all the SSL certificates that have been configured for the target windows host. For each SSL certificate, this test captures the expiry date of the SSL certificates, computes how long each certificate will remain valid, and proactively alerts administrators if any certificate is nearing expiry.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the ENABLE / DISABLE TESTS page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the DISABLED TESTS list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every SSL certificate on the target Windows host being monitored.

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
SSL_cert_expiry Indicates the number of days from the current day for which this SSL certificate will be valid. Number A high value is preferred for this measure. A low value of this measure indicates that the SSL certificate is going to be expired soon and you should update the certificate before it expires.

The detailed diagnosis of this measure reveals the key file name, the format of the certificate file and the notification period beyond which the alert will be generated.