Certificate Examples

Certificate Description
Root Certificate Example
Below is and example of a root certificate.  A root certificate can be identified as a root certificate if “issued to:” and “issued by:” contain the same name. Installing this certificate on the server is typically not required. The root certificate is normally pre-installed in the operating system of the phone or the web browser.

Secure Intermediate Certificate Example

This is the "not pre-installed certificate" issued to “Go Daddy Secure Certificate Authority - G2”. You must install this file as an Intermediate CA.

Note: You might need more than one Intermediate CA if the Intermediate CA was not signed by a root CA known by the phone or by the web browser.

In the following example the “Issued by:” does point to the Root CA, and no second intermediate CA is needed.  If the “Go Daddy Secure Certificate Authority - G2” root CA from 2009 is unknown to the phone (because it is relatively new), another (alternative) certificate chain can be installed.



Alternative Certificate Example

This Alternative Certificate contains the “Go Daddy Secure Certificate Authority - G2”, plus another intermediate certificate “Go Daddy Root Certificate Authority - G2”. In this case, the “Go Daddy Root Certificate Authority - G2” is not a root certificate, because it is issued by a different root CA: “Go Daddy Class 2 Certification Authority”.



 
The ”Go Daddy Class 2 Certification Authority” is much older and it is more likely to be installed in all web browsers and phones.  Downloading the root CA certificate (not required) will show its validly (from 2004, as shown in the example below):