ok, Im using mac to generate my self signed keys. Here is the working method I used.
I created a shell script to speed up my key generation.
genkey.sh
#/bin/sh
ssh-keygen -f host.key
openssl req -new -key host.key -out request.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 99999 -in request.csr -signkey host.key -out server.crt
openssl pkcs12 -export -inkey host.key -in server.crt -out private_public.p12 -name "SslCert"
openssl base64 -in private_public.p12 -out Base64.key
add the +x execute flag to the script
chmod +x genkey.sh
then call genkey.sh
./genkey.sh
I enter a password (important to include a password at least for the export at the end)
Enter pass phrase for host.key:
Enter Export Password: {Important to enter a password here}
Verifying - Enter Export Password: { Same password here }
I then take everything in Base64.Key and put it into a string named sslKey
private string sslKey = "MIIJiAIBA...................................." +
"......................ETC...................." +
"......................ETC...................." +
"......................ETC...................." +
".............ugICCAA=";
I then used a lazy load Property getter to get my X509 Cert with a private key.
X509Certificate2 _serverCertificate = null;
X509Certificate2 serverCertificate{
get
{
if (_serverCertificate == null){
string pass = "Your Export Password Here";
_serverCertificate = new X509Certificate(Convert.FromBase64String(sslKey), pass, X509KeyStorageFlags.Exportable);
}
return _serverCertificate;
}
}
I wanted to go this route because I am using .net 2.0 and Mono on mac and I wanted to use vanilla Framework code with no compiled libraries or dependencies.
My final use for this was the SslStream to secure TCP communication to my app
SslStream sslStream = new SslStream(serverCertificate, false, SslProtocols.Tls, true);
I hope this helps other people.
NOTE
Without a password I was unable to correctly unlock the private key for export.