Remote queries to a standalone CA

Sometimes we have AD CS based standalone CAs within our environment, and those not being Active Directory integrated introduces a number of constraints.

We might want, for example, to run CA database queries from a different server in the environment, for certificate tracking and reporting purposes.

Since the CA is standalone and does not have any Enrollment Services object within Active Directory (even if it is created as part of the role configuration process it is probably a good idea to remove it afterwards), it is often not clear whether remote queries are possible, since running standard certutil -dump on an AD member server does not provide information about the particular CA

Assuming the standalone CA runs on an AD member server and is therefore able to authenticate remote RPC/DCOM requests, it does work as long as you have the required connectivity and access rights.

In order to query the CA database remotely:

  • On the standalone CA server itself run certutil -dump, this will provide a "config" string coming from the CA server itself instead of coming from the AD PKI container.
  • From a different server with required connectivity (RPC/DCOM) and access rights (at least "Read" in the CA Security) run the standard

        certutil -config "<config string retrieved above>" -view -restrict etc.

That will allow you to run queries remotely against the standalone CA database.

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