Monitoring Windows Server X509 Certificates
Learn to monitor the X509 Certificates installed in the Windows Server Certificate Store using the Nodinite Windows Server Monitoring Agent. You can monitor individual certificates with global or specific thresholds.
This page describes the Monitoring of Certificate Stores. These can further be grouped by the selected Category in Nodinite, using one or more role-based Monitor Views. Nodinite monitors the state based on user-defined thresholds, either global or specific. For managing Certificates, some remote commands are available as Actions. These help you swiftly manage reported problems. The implemented Remote Actions are further detailed on this page.
Example with a list of monitored 'X509 Certificates' as resources in a Monitor View.
Monitoring Features
- You can decide which stores to monitor. Sharing insights is very easy from within Nodinite using Monitor Views.
- State Evaluation - Based on user-defined settings
- Category-based monitoring - To help you sort out the different types of resources, the monitored Resources are grouped by Categories
State evaluation for X509 Certificates
Certificate Resources are displayed within Nodinite as Resources. For example, if you have 1337 certificates in the store, you will have 1337 'Certificate' related Resources in Nodinite.
The name of a Resource is a combination of the
%User-Friendly Name%-Issued By: %Name%/Issued To: %Name%The X509 'Certificate' Resource belongs to one of the following Categories:
Category Description Store Manage thresholds and view all expired certificates on the selected Windows server Current User Manage certificates for Current User Local Machine Manage certificates installed on the local machine 
List of Certificate related Categories, as a filter in a Monitor View.The Application name is the Display Name from the configuration of the monitored Windows Server:
Each item (presented in Nodinite as a Resource), is evaluated with a state. (OK, Warning, Error, Unavailable).
The evaluated state may be reconfigured using the Expected State feature that exists on every Resource within Nodinite.
Note
Depending on the user-defined synchronization interval set for the Windows Server Monitoring Agent, there might be a delay before Nodinite Web Client/Monitor Views reflects upon the change. Click the Sync All button (or on the dropdown for individual agent selection) to force Nodinite to request a resynchronization request.
Option to force Nodinite to request a resynchronization with the selected monitoring agent.
Monitoring X509 Certificates
For the different Certificate categories, the monitored state evaluates as described in the tables below:
Store
For the Category Store, there is a single virtual Resource per Windows Server entry named Certificate Store. This Resource can have one of the following states:
| State | Status | Description | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unavailable | Service not available |
|
Review prerequisites | |
| Error | Error state raised | Not Implemented | - | |
| Warning | Warning state raised | Not implemented | - | |
| OK | Online | The Certificate store on the selected computer can be browsed and evaluated | Edit Expired Certificates |
Store Actions
The following Remote Actions exist for the Store Category:
Here's an example with the List of Remote Actions for the Store Category.
Edit Certificate Store
Click the Edit action menu item to manage global thresholds.
Manage global expiration thresholds
Expired Certificates in store
Click the Expired Certificates action menu item to view a list of expired certificates in the different stores where monitoring is enabled Local Machine and Current User
The list of expired certificates is listed in the Local Machine tab.
Review the expired certificates in the local machine store.
The list of expired certificates is listed in the Current User tab.
Review the expired certificates in the current user store.
Current User
For the Category Current User, there can be many Resources named %User-Friendly Name% - Issued By: %Name% / Issued To: %Name%.
The listed Resources can have one of the following states:
| State | Status | Description | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unavailable | Service not available |
|
Review prerequisites | |
| Error | Error state raised |
|
Edit Details | |
| Warning | Warning state raised | The Certificate is about to expire or has already expired | Edit Details | |
| OK | Online | The certificate is valid and is not about to expire | Edit Details |
Actions for Current User
The following Remote Actions are available for the User Category:
List of action menu items for category 'Current User'.
Edit Current User
Click the Edit action menu item to manage the specific threshold for the selected certificate in the store for the current user.
Manage specific expiration thresholds for Certificate in the selected user store.
Details Current User
Click the Details action menu item to see the details for the selected certificate in the certificate store for the current user.
Review the details for the selected Certificate in the current user store.
Local Machine
For the Category Local Machine, there can be many Resources named %User-Friendly Name% - Issued By: %Name% / Issued To: %Name%. A Resource can have one of the following states:
| State | Status | Description | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unavailable | Service not available |
|
Review prerequisites | |
| Error | Error state raised |
|
Edit Details | |
| Warning | Warning state raised | The certificate has expired or is about to expire | Edit Details | |
| OK | Online | The certificate is valid and is not about to expire | Edit Details |
Actions for Local Machine
The following Remote Actions are available for the Store Category:
Here's an example with the list of Remote Actions for the Local Machine Category.
Edit Local Machine
Click the Edit action menu item to manage the specific threshold for a selected Certificate in the store for the Local Machine.
Here's an example of managing expiration Monitoring thresholds.
Details Local Machine
Click the Details action menu item to see the details for the selected Certificate in the Certificate store for the Local Machine.
Here's an example with Details for the selected Certificate in the Local Machine store.
Configuration
Use the Remote Configuration to manage the Certificate Monitoring configuration.
Next Step
Related
Windows Server Monitoring Agent
Resources
Monitoring
Monitor Views