Understanding the Public Key Infrastructure

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Describing the problem of secure, scalable distribution of public keys and presenting PKI as a solution
• Explaining the concept of a trusted introducer
• Explaining certificates, CAs, certification paths, certificate trust, and revocation lists
• Explaining the certificate enrollment procedure
• Explaining PKI certificate revocation
• Explaining the use of PKI in existing applications

Cisco CallManager Release 4.0 and later supports many security features that are based on a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solution. In earlier releases, Cisco CallManager did not use PKI-like features, and many Cisco CallManager administrators are not familiar with PKI. This chapter discusses the concept of a PKI, its components, and its applications.