How Certificate Management System Works46 Netscape Certificate Management System Administrator’s Guide • February 2003How the Registration Manger WorksThis sections details the processes that a Registration Manager goes through, andthe various configuration settings involved in those processes.Accepting Enrollment RequestsSimilar to the Certificate Manger, the Registration Manger contains an end-entityinterface with various forms associated with various types of certificates andvarious types of users. This interface is fully customizable allowing you to onlyshow the forms that are pertinent to your users, change the look and feel of theforms, or add and delete fields. Certificate requests that come through theRegistration Managers end-entity interface are processed by the RegistrationManager. If it is an agent-approved enrollment, an agent of the RegistrationManger must approve the request. If it is an automated enrollment, the request isconsidered approved if the end entity supplies the correct information, andauthenticates against the authentication method set up. See the Netscape CertificateManagement System Customization Guide for details about customizing theend-entity interface.Authentication MethodsCMS provides authentication plug-ins that allow you to set up automatedenrollment and set configuration settings for that method(s); it providesagent-approved enrollment, where an agent must approve the request by default.The Registration Manager also provides an in-person registration method wherean end user appears in person to request the certificate, and the agent enters andapproves the request—note that the Certificate Manager does not support inperson registration by agents. Each end-entity form is associated with a particularauthentication method, either one of the automated methods or theagent-approved method. The Registration Manager processes the requestaccording to the method associated with the form. See Chapter 9, “Authentication”for complete details.The Registration Manager is in complete control of the authentication of users. Nomatter how the Certificate Manager is set up for authentication, the CertificateManager will accept a request sent by the Registration Manager and not apply anyauthentication of its own.
