How to Automate Certificate Renewal Across Your PKI

Automated Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM)

Enterprises lose uptime when certificates expire. See how Futurex PKI and Revocent CertAccord automate renewals and slash manual work, and prepare your PKI for crypto agility.

"Shorter certificate lifespans act like a slow-moving tsunami gathering speed."

— Mike Cooper, CEO of Revocent

In This Interview

• Meet Revocent & CertAccord
• How CertAccord Enterprise Automates CLM
• Why Shorter Certificates Demand Automation
• Risks of Manual Certificate Updates
• How Did You First Get Interested in Technology?
• Next Steps: Move Beyond Manual Certificate Management
• FAQ
• Book a PKI Automation Demo

Meet Revocent & CertAccord

• CertAccord Enterprise acts as a bridge between Microsoft ADCS and mixed OS environments.
• Solves automation gaps for Linux, Mac, and legacy UNIX systems.
• Eliminates manual certificate tasks, reducing errors and IT workload.

Mike Cooper, CEO of Revocent.

"We believe a company's name is as essential as an astronaut's spacesuit. Without the right one, you feel like you're wearing a flimsy exam gown at a doctor's office instead of feeling secure and protected.

Our company is Revocent, and we built CertAccord Enterprise to make IT staff feel like they are wearing a highly engineered PKI solution "spacesuit," rather than a drafty old gown made of patchwork scripts.

CertAccord Enterprise acts as a Certificate Management Bridge (CMB) between Microsoft ADCS (Active Directory Certificate Services) and endpoints running Linux, Mac, Unix, and Windows. Microsoft ADCS is a widely used PKI solution, but it has a couple of significant shortcomings in today's hybrid environments.

First, ADCS only automates certificate provisioning and renewal on Windows machines that are AD domain-joined. It fails to provide automated support for Linux, Mac, and legacy UNIX systems. In practice, many organizations still rely on manual certificate enrollment and renewal processes for those platforms, deficiencies that precise CLM can solve. Manual provisioning is slow, error-prone, and consumes both time and money.

Second, even on Windows endpoints, ADCS has another limitation: it deploys certificates to the certificate store but leaves application integration as a manual task.

IT staff must configure each application to use its certificate, which is tedious and time-consuming. When it comes time to update or renew certificates, these manual steps multiply the effort.

In effect, ADCS alone forces IT teams to drop to a primitive, manual level for anything outside basic Windows enrollment, something that effective CLM eliminates.

CertAccord Enterprise solves both issues by fully automating all platforms' certificate lifecycle management (CLM) process. It automatically creates, deploys, and renews certificates for every device and application, injecting them directly into services and apps.

This provides comprehensive certificate lifecycle management across Linux, Mac, Unix, and Windows.

As a result, IT teams stop fighting one-off scripts and spreadsheets. Instead, they have a centralized CLM solution that seamlessly handles issuance, renewal, and integration.

It gives IT staff complete visibility and control over all certificates, making certificate lifecycle management (CLM) predictable instead of panic-driven. With CertAccord Enterprise, the system automatically provides the necessary certificate whenever you build a new server or deploy an application. In practice, many customers find that CertAccord eliminates configuration errors and speeds up rollout.

For example, an IT team can define an AD policy requiring any machine in a "WebServers" group to receive a TLS certificate at launch automatically. This kind of policy-based provisioning saves time and reduces risk on mixed-platform networks.

How CertAccord Enterprise Automates Digital Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM)

TL;DR

• Leverages your current Microsoft ADCS-based PKI.
• Automates certificate requests, renewals, and application integration across platforms.
• Provides centralized visibility and granular control.

"CertAccord Enterprise builds on your existing Microsoft ADCS-based PKI so you can automate certificate provisioning without tearing down your current infrastructure. Once you add CertAccord to your PKI, you set up automatic certificate requests and renewals based on Active Directory device groups.

In other words, when a new server comes online or you deploy a new application, the system recognizes the AD group and automatically issues the correct certificate.

You can even create certificates from the command line of any supported endpoint, including Linux and macOS. That means issuing a certificate can be as easy as running a script or clicking a button on each machine.

Plus, the CertAccord console provides a single pane of glass for all certificates.

Administrators can view every active certificate, track upcoming expirations, and generate reports from one dashboard. These capabilities make certificate lifecycle management a predictable, controlled process instead of a hidden chore. IT teams use the CertAccord Enterprise Management Console to configure policies, set access controls, and decide how certificates get issued across the network.

Those centralized policies flow to CertAccord agents on each endpoint. The agents then enforce the rules, install certificates, and renew them as needed.

We give IT staff granular control, whether they need tight security rules or a more flexible setup. Those policies follow each endpoint automatically.

The bottom line: CertAccord Enterprise automates the whole certificate lifecycle management process at scale.

It automatically creates new certificates, renews them well before expiration, and integrates them into applications without human intervention. By eliminating manual steps, this certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solution saves time, reduces errors, and lets organizations manage certificates across thousands of devices effortlessly.

The unified inventory and audit logs ensure admins know which certificates exist and when they will expire, turning CLM from guesswork into a predictable, auditable system.

Why Shorter Certificates Demand Automation

TL;DR

• Short certificate lifespans mean constant renewals and manual effort.
• Automated CLM eliminates the renewal scramble.
• Lays the foundation for future, quantum-safe updates.

"Shorter certificate lifespans act like a slow-moving tsunami gathering speed. Quantum computing is a giant earthquake on the horizon; we see clear signs it's coming, and when it arrives, it will shake up everything.

Organizations cannot stop those forces; they can only prepare.

The way to prepare is by investing in automated certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solutions.

With the right CLM tools, certificate provisioning becomes easy and continuous. Certificate lifecycle management solutions automate the process so that creating new certificates for your entire enterprise is as simple as a few button clicks instead of an all-hands-on-deck scramble.

This automation is exactly what the IT teams need to mitigate the impact of shorter lifespans. Certificate authorities have already cut TLS certificate lifetimes to about a year, and that period could shrink further. Without CLM, IT teams would constantly scramble to renew expiring certificates; with CLM, those updates happen automatically in the background.

In short, CLM turns what could be a certificate tsunami into a series of manageable updates.

Many organizations treat short certificate lifespans like a one-time crisis.

They scramble to renew certificates each time the expiration date manually approaches, then breathe easy until the next deadline.

That's like running away whenever a small wave hits and thinking you're safe once the water recedes. It might work temporarily, but each wave still causes problems.

In contrast, investing in certificate lifecycle management builds a high and dry foundation.

Once CLM is in place, any further shrinkage of certificate lifetimes or the arrival of quantum computing becomes a routine event to handle; it is no longer an emergency. As cryptography evolves, replacing legacy certificates will become an ongoing challenge.

A CLM solution can also automate those transitions, issuing updated certificates across the enterprise quickly and reliably.

Risks of Manual Certificate Updates

TL;DR

• Manual renewal is time-consuming, error-prone, and risky.
• Downtime and compliance failures are common when certificates expire.
• Automated CLM eliminates these gaps and enables security teams to focus on higher priorities.

"Think of manual certificate updates like a builder using a hammer to drive nails. A hammer works and might even seem cheaper for a one-time task.

But it is slow, physically draining, and prone to mistakes.

In IT, doing everything by hand slows down teams and causes errors when configuring or renewing certificates.

Many organizations treat certificate updates like that hammer approach. They handle manual renewals and installations by hand because it looks cheaper upfront.

It's hard to justify spending on a certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solution when you can "just click a few times" each time. However, this approach falls apart today.

A few years ago, certificates often lasted three or four years, so the occasional manual renewal worked.

Certificate lifespans are much shorter today, and new threats like quantum computing demand a modern solution: automated CLM.

The real risks of manual certificate management are downtime and security gaps. If an IT person forgets to renew a certificate or makes a typo, a website or service can suddenly fail. Imagine your public website or VPN going offline in the middle of the night because a certificate expired.

That downtime frustrates users, hurts revenue, and may trigger compliance failures.

Manual processes also obscure the number of certificates held, making audits difficult. Even one missed expiration in regulated industries can be a costly compliance violation. An expired certificate isn't just inconvenient; it's a critical security gap.

Automated CLM ensures no certificate ever expires on its watch.

By contrast, an automated certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solution removes all those risks. With CLM, issuing, renewing, and revoking certificates becomes routine and reliable.

Your organization can handle a one-year or even 90-day certificate lifespan with zero disruptions. CLM frees your security team to focus on strategic projects instead of chasing expirations.

In short, automating certificate lifecycle management greatly improves security and reduces costs, with no downsides, even if certificate lifetimes drop to 90 days or less.

How Did You First Get Interested in Technology?

TL;DR

• Mike started with high school computer classes and early Unix tinkering.
• Network security experience in college sparked his passion for certificates.
• Led to co-founding Revocent and designing CLM solutions.

"I started out playing with computers when I was in high school. Back then, there were very few computers-yes, we even had electric lights-so my only exposure was in the school's one "computer" class.

My friends in that class were all super nerds, and I initially felt like an idiot.

Not because anyone was mean, but simply because they were on another level of understanding.

Despite that, I tinkered around whenever I could. I learned how to use the so-called "state-of-the-art" operating systems of the time, like early versions of Unix. I spent evenings reading manuals and experimenting, slowly finding that I wasn't nearly as clueless as I thought.

When I finally went to college, those early struggles paid off. I majored in computer science and got comfortable building and managing systems.

Those early experiences taught me a lot about tackling tough tech challenges. I became especially fascinated by the problems around security and certificates, how we make computers trust each other.

In college, I worked on network security projects and saw firsthand how complicated certificate management could be. It eventually led me to focus on solving those issues professionally.

When I co-founded Revocent and started working on CertAccord Enterprise, I wanted to create tools that simplify certificate lifecycle management (CLM) for everyone.

In a way, this journey came full circle: I'm now helping organizations implement CLM solutions that keep their digital systems secure, far from the manual "exam gown" processes of the past.

Those early lessons, which showed that every system has its own "language," now help me design CLM tools that speak each platform's language."

Next Steps: Move Beyond Manual Certificate Management

TL;DR

• Manual certificate processes can't keep up with security demands.
• Hardware PKI and automated CLM create a resilient foundation.
• Book a demo to see how it works for your organization.

Modern certificate challenges demand more than manual processes can provide. As Mike explains, shorter certificate lifespans can feel like a slow-moving tsunami. Investing in certificate lifecycle management builds a high, dry foundation that can withstand massive earthquakes.

For this reason, Futurex's PKI combined with Revocent's automated certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solution provides a strong foundation. Therefore, ditch manual certificate processes and automate with CLM.

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FAQ

What is certificate lifecycle management (CLM)?

CLM is the process of issuing, deploying, renewing, and revoking digital certificates, ideally through automation.

Why automate certificate lifecycle management?

Automation reduces manual effort, cuts error rates, prevents outages, and prepares organizations for changing requirements such as quantum threats.

How does CertAccord integrate with Microsoft ADCS?

CertAccord acts as a bridge, automating certificate tasks across Windows and non-Windows platforms.

What are the risks of manual certificate management?

Manual processes lead to downtime, security gaps, audit challenges, and increased compliance risk.

Ready to end midnight certificate outages?