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Create an SSL certificate

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This article describes how to generate and install Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates for Power BI visuals.

For the Windows, macOS X, and Linux procedures, you must have the Power BI Visual Tools pbiviz package installed. For more information, see Set up your environment for developing a Power BI visual.

Create a certificate on Windows

To generate a certificate by using the PowerShell cmdlet New-SelfSignedCertificate on Windows 8 and later, run the following command:

pbiviz --install-cert

For Windows 7, the pbiviz tool requires the OpenSSL utility to be available from the command line. To install OpenSSL, go to OpenSSL or OpenSSL Binaries.

Create a certificate on macOS X

The OpenSSL utility is usually available in the macOS X operating system.

You can also install the OpenSSL utility by running either of the following commands:

  • From the Brew package manager:

    brew install openssl
brew link openssl --force

  • By using MacPorts:

    sudo port install openssl

After you install the OpenSSL utility, run the following command to generate a new certificate:

pbiviz --install-cert

Create a certificate on Linux

The OpenSSL utility is usually available in the Linux operating system.

Before you begin, run the following commands to make sure openssl and certutil are installed:

which openssl
which certutil

If openssl and certutil aren't installed, install the openssl and libnss3 utilities.

Create the SSL configuration file

Create a file called /tmp/openssl.cnf that contains the following text:

authorityKeyIdentifier=keyid,issuer
basicConstraints=CA:FALSE
keyUsage = digitalSignature, nonRepudiation, keyEncipherment, dataEncipherment
subjectAltName = @alt_names

[ alt_names ]
DNS.1=localhost

Generate root certificate authority

To generate root certificate authority (CA) to sign local certificates, run the following commands:

touch $HOME/.rnd
openssl req -x509 -nodes -new -sha256 -days 1024 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /tmp/local-root-ca.key -out /tmp/local-root-ca.pem -subj "/C=US/CN=Local Root CA/O=Local Root CA"
openssl x509 -outform pem -in /tmp/local-root-ca.pem -out /tmp/local-root-ca.crt

Generate a certificate for localhost

To generate a certificate for localhost using the generated CA and openssl.cnf, run the following commands:

PBIVIZ=`which pbiviz`
PBIVIZ=`dirname $PBIVIZ`
PBIVIZ="$PBIVIZ/../lib/node_modules/powerbi-visuals-tools/certs"
# Make sure that $PBIVIZ contains the correct certificate directory path. ls $PBIVIZ should list 'blank' file.
openssl req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout $PBIVIZ/PowerBIVisualTest_private.key -out $PBIVIZ/PowerBIVisualTest.csr -subj "/C=US/O=PowerBI Visuals/CN=localhost"
openssl x509 -req -sha256 -days 1024 -in $PBIVIZ/PowerBIVisualTest.csr -CA /tmp/local-root-ca.pem -CAkey /tmp/local-root-ca.key -CAcreateserial -extfile /tmp/openssl.cnf -out $PBIVIZ/PowerBIVisualTest_public.crt

Add root certificates

To add a root certificate to the Chrome browser's database, run:

certutil -A -n "Local Root CA" -t "CT,C,C" -i /tmp/local-root-ca.pem -d sql:$HOME/.pki/nssdb

To add a root certificate to the Mozilla Firefox browser's database, run:

for certDB in $(find $HOME/.mozilla* -name "cert*.db")
do
certDir=$(dirname ${certDB});
certutil -A -n "Local Root CA" -t "CT,C,C" -i /tmp/local-root-ca.pem -d sql:${certDir}
done

To add a system-wide root certificate, run:

sudo cp /tmp/local-root-ca.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/
sudo update-ca-certificates

Remove root certificates

To remove a root certificate, run:

sudo rm /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/local-root-ca.pem
sudo update-ca-certificates --fresh

Generate a certificate manually

You can also generate an SSL certificate manually using OpenSSL. You can specify any tools to generate your certificates.

If the OpenSSL utility is already installed, generate a new certificate by running:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout PowerBIVisualTest_private.key -out PowerBIVisualTest_public.crt -days 365

You can usually find the PowerBI-visuals-tools web server certificates by running one of the following commands:

  • For the global instance of the tools:

    %appdata%\npm\node_modules\PowerBI-visuals-tools\certs

  • For the local instance of the tools:

    <Power BI visual project root>\node_modules\PowerBI-visuals-tools\certs

PEM format

If you use the Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) certificate format, save the certificate file as PowerBIVisualTest_public.crt, and save the private key as PowerBIVisualTest_private.key.

PFX format

If you use the Personal Information Exchange (PFX) certificate format, save the certificate file as PowerBIVisualTest_public.pfx.

If your PFX certificate file requires a passphrase:

  1. In the config file, specify:

    \PowerBI-visuals-tools\config.json

  2. In the server section, specify the passphrase by replacing the <YOUR PASSPHRASE> placeholder:

    "server":{
    "root":"webRoot",
    "assetsRoute":"/assets",
    "privateKey":"certs/PowerBIVisualTest_private.key",
    "certificate":"certs/PowerBIVisualTest_public.crt",
    "pfx":"certs/PowerBIVisualTest_public.pfx",
    "port":"8080",
    "passphrase":"<YOUR PASSPHRASE>"
}

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