The Java Keytool is a command line tool which can generate public key / private key pairs and store them in a Java KeyStore. The Keytool executable is distributed with the Java SDK (or JRE), so if you have an SDK installed you will also have the Keytool executable.

The Keytool executable is called keytool. To execute it, open a command line (cmd, console, shell etc.). and change directory into the bin directory of your Java SDK installation. Type keytool followed by pressing the Enter key. You should see something similar to this:

As you can see, keytool supports a set of commands to work with keys, certificates and key stores. This Java Keytool tutorial will cover the most commonly used of these commands.

1. Nov 01, 2018  The API we use to generate the key pairs is in the java.security package. That’s mean we have to import this package into our code. The class for generating the key pairs is KeyPairGenerator. To get an instance of this class we have to call the getInstance methods by providing two parameters. The first parameter is algorithm and the second parameter is the provider.
2. Create a Key Pair You must specify a key pair when you launch an EC2 instance and then specify the private key of the key pair when you connect to the instance.

Keytool Scripts

Create a key pair To create a key pair, at a command prompt, type the following command: sn –k In this command, file name is the name of the output file containing the key pair.

Keytool commands take a lot of arguments which may be hard to remember to set correctly. Therefore it is a good idea to create some Keytool CMD or Shell scripts with the Keytool commands in. The scripts makes it easier to re-execute the keytool commands later on, and makes it possible to go back later and see how a KeyStore was generated.

Generate Key Pair

Generating a public key / private key pair is one of the most common tasks to use the Java Keytool for. The generated key pair is inserted into a Java KeyStore file as a self signed key pair. Here is the general command line format for generating a key pair with the Keytool:

The arguments are explained in the Keytool Arguments section. Not all of these arguments are needed. Many are optional. The Keytool will tell you if you are missing a required argument.

The line breaks should not be included in the final command. The line breaks are only there to make the command format easier to read here.

Here is an example keytool -genkeypair command. Remember to remove the line breaks before trying it out!

Java Server Generate Key Pair Free

Export Certificate

The Java Keytool can also export certificates stored in a KeyStore. Here is how the Keytool command looks for exporting certificates:

The arguments are explained in the Keytool Arguments section. Not all of these arguments are needed. Many are optional. The Keytool will tell you if you are missing a required argument.

Here is a Keytool command example that exports the certificate for a key pair. Remember to remove the line breaks when entering the command on the command line.

Import Certificate

The Java Keytool can also import certificates into a KeyStore. Here is how the Keytool command looks for importing certificates:

The arguments are explained in the Keytool Arguments section. Not all of these arguments are needed. Many are optional. The Keytool will tell you if you are missing a required argument.

Here is an example Keytool command that imports a certificate into a KeyStore. Remember to remove the line breaks when entering the command on the command line.

List KeyStore Entries

To list the entries in a Java KeyStore you can use the Keytool -list command. Here is the format for the Keytool -list command. The line breaks are only here to make the command format easier to read. Remove the line breaks before running the command.

The arguments are explained in the Keytool Arguments section. Not all of these arguments are needed. Many are optional. The Keytool will tell you if you are missing a required argument.

Here is a Keytool -list command example. Remember to remove the line breaks!

This Keytool -list command will list all entries in the given KeyStore. The output of running this Keytool -list command will look similar to this:

If you include an -alias argument in the Keytool -list command, then only the entry matching the given alias will get listed. Here is an example Keytool -list command with an -alias argument:

Java Name Value Pair

The output of running the above Keytool -list command will look similar to this:

Delete KeyStore Entry

The Keytool has a command that can delete a key entry in a Java KeyStore. The Keytool command for deleting keys is -delete. Here is the format of the Keytool -delete command:

The arguments are explained in the Keytool Arguments section. Not all of these arguments are needed. Many are optional. /software-license-key-generator-c.html. The Keytool will tell you if you are missing a required argument.

Here is a Keytool -delete command example. Remember to remove the line breaks before running it!

Java Pair Import

This Keytool -delete command will remove the KeyStore entry with the alias testkey from the KeyStore stored in the file keystore.jks .

Generate a Certificate Request

Java Pair Class

The Java Keytool can generate a certificate request using the -certreq command. A certificate request is a request for a certificate authority (CA) to create a public certificate for your organization. Once generated, the certificate request should be sent to the CA you want to create a certificate for you (e.g. Verisign, Thawte, or some other CA).

Before you can generate a certificate request for a private key, public key pair, you must have generated that private key, public key pair into the Keystore (or imported it). See elsewhere in this Java Keytool tutorial to see how to do that.

Here is the command format for generating a certificate request. Remember to remove all line breaks when trying out this command:

The arguments are explained in the Keytool Arguments section. Not all of these arguments are needed. Many are optional. The Keytool will tell you if you are missing a required argument.

Here is a Java Keytool -certreq command example:

This command will generate a certificate request for the key stored with alias testkey in the keystore file keystore.jks, and write the certificate request into the file named certreq.certreq .

Remember, the line breaks are only included to make the command easier to read. Omit them when typing in the command on the command line yourself.

Keytool Arguments

Below is a list of the arguments the various Keytool commands take. Please keep in mind that not all commands accept all of these arguments. Look at the concrete command to see what arguments it takes.