Certificate Authority (CA)

eMudhra’s Certificate Authority (CA) and Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) modules work in tandem to create a fully automated, end‑to‑end PKI workflow—eliminating manual renewal headaches and ensuring uninterrupted service availability.

1. Native API‑Driven Integration

• Unified RESTful Interfaces
  eMudhra’s CA exposes REST APIs that the CLM engine consumes to request new certificates, check status, and trigger renewals. This bi‑directional communication ensures the CLM platform can monitor every issued certificate in real time.
• Webhook Notifications
  When a certificate’s validity drops below a configured threshold (e.g., 30 days), the CA fires a webhook event to CLM, kicking off pre‑renewal workflows automatically.

2. Centralized Discovery & Inventory

• Auto‑Discovery Agents
  Lightweight agents scan enterprise assets—web servers, load balancers, network appliances, containers—and report existing certificates into the CLM dashboard. Any certificate, whether issued by eMudhra’s CA or a third party, is inventoried for lifecycle oversight.
• Holistic Certificate Registry
  The CLM solution correlates inventory with CA metadata (issue date, expiry date, revocation status), maintaining a single source of truth for certificate health.

3. Policy‑Based Renewal Workflows

• Template‑Driven Policies
  Administrators define renewal policies—key length, signature algorithm, SAN requirements—once in CLM. When a certificate nears expiry, CLM invokes the CA with the appropriate template, guaranteeing adherence to corporate security standards.
• Custom Escalation Paths
  If an automated renewal fails (e.g., agent can’t reach the CA or HSM), CLM routes alerts to predefined teams via email, SMS, or collaboration tools, with built‑in retry logic to resolve transient errors.

4. Secure Key Handling & HSM Integration

• Key Generation & Storage
  CLM can orchestrate key generation within the CA’s FIPS‑certified HSMs, ensuring private keys never leave secure hardware. During renewal, new keys are generated or existing keys reused per policy, with zero manual intervention.
• Hardware‑Backed Signing
  Every renewal request is signed within the HSM, preserving cryptographic integrity and auditability.

5. Zero‑Downtime Certificate Replacement

• Staggered Deployment
  CLM supports blue‑green renewal patterns: new certificates are provisioned alongside existing ones, validated, and then seamlessly swapped in at the edge. This prevents handshaking failures during TLS renegotiations.
• Rolling Updates
  For large clusters or microservice fleets, CLM coordinates parallel deployments, draining traffic from nodes one at a time and updating certificates without taking entire services offline.

6. Continuous Monitoring & Reporting

• Real‑Time Dashboards
  A consolidated view shows all certificates issued by eMudhra’s CA, their lifecycle stages, and renewal success rates. Color‑coded health indicators flag certificates at risk of expiration.
• Audit Trails & Compliance Reports
  Every issuance, renewal, or revocation action by the CA is logged within CLM. Built‑in reports demonstrate compliance with industry standards (e.g., PCI-DSS, GDPR), simplifying audits.

Business Impact

• Eliminate Expired‑Certificate Outages: Automated renewals driven by CLM–CA integration ensure no certificate ever lapses unnoticed.
• Reduce Operational Overhead: Hands‑off key and certificate management frees security teams to focus on strategic initiatives.
• Maintain Continuous Compliance: Policy‑enforced renewals and end‑to‑end auditability satisfy even the strictest regulatory requirements.

By deeply integrating its Certificate Authority with the CLM platform, eMudhra delivers a resilient PKI ecosystem that scales with enterprise demands—guaranteeing that SSL/TLS protection never falters and business services remain online 24/7.