AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) is a service that enables you to provision, manage, and deploy SSL/TLS certificates for use with AWS services and internal connected resources. These certificates are essential for securing network communications and establishing the identity of websites over the Inter…AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) is a service that enables you to provision, manage, and deploy SSL/TLS certificates for use with AWS services and internal connected resources. These certificates are essential for securing network communications and establishing the identity of websites over the Internet.
Key features of ACM include:
**Certificate Provisioning**: ACM allows you to request public certificates from Amazon's Certificate Authority or import third-party certificates. Public certificates issued by ACM are trusted by all major browsers and operating systems.
**Automatic Renewal**: ACM handles the complexity of certificate renewal for certificates it issues. This eliminates manual processes and reduces the risk of expired certificates causing service disruptions.
**Integration with AWS Services**: ACM certificates integrate seamlessly with services like Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon CloudFront, Amazon API Gateway, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk. This makes deploying SSL/TLS across your infrastructure straightforward.
**Private Certificate Authority**: ACM Private CA enables you to create private certificates for internal resources, allowing you to establish a complete PKI infrastructure within AWS.
**Cost Efficiency**: Public SSL/TLS certificates provisioned through ACM are free when used with integrated AWS services. You only pay for the AWS resources you create.
**Security Best Practices**: ACM stores private keys securely using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and follows security best practices for key management.
**Regional Service**: ACM is a regional service, meaning certificates must be provisioned in the same region as your resources. For CloudFront distributions, certificates must be requested in the US East (N. Virginia) region.
**Validation Methods**: When requesting certificates, you can validate domain ownership through DNS validation (recommended) or email validation. DNS validation requires adding a CNAME record to your domain's DNS configuration.
For SysOps Administrators, understanding ACM is crucial for maintaining secure communications, ensuring compliance requirements are met, and automating certificate lifecycle management across AWS environments.
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) - Complete Guide
What is AWS Certificate Manager?
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) is a fully managed service that enables you to provision, manage, and deploy SSL/TLS certificates for use with AWS services and your internal connected resources. ACM removes the time-consuming manual process of purchasing, uploading, and renewing SSL/TLS certificates.
Why is AWS Certificate Manager Important?
• Security: SSL/TLS certificates encrypt data in transit, protecting sensitive information from interception • Trust: Certificates validate the identity of websites and applications, building user confidence • Compliance: Many regulatory frameworks require encryption of data in transit (PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC) • Cost Savings: Public certificates provisioned through ACM are free when used with integrated AWS services • Automation: ACM handles automatic certificate renewal, reducing operational overhead
How AWS Certificate Manager Works
1. Certificate Types: • Public Certificates: Used for public-facing resources, trusted by browsers and clients • Private Certificates: Used within your organization via AWS Private Certificate Authority (Private CA)
2. Certificate Validation Methods: • DNS Validation (Recommended): Add a CNAME record to your DNS configuration. Best for automated renewal • Email Validation: ACM sends validation emails to registered domain contacts
4. Certificate Renewal: • ACM automatically renews certificates before expiration (typically 60 days prior) • DNS-validated certificates renew automatically if the CNAME record remains in place • Email-validated certificates require manual approval for renewal
Key Features to Remember:
• Regional Service: Certificates must be provisioned in the same region as your resources, except for CloudFront which requires certificates in us-east-1 (N. Virginia) • Private Key Security: ACM protects and manages the private key; you cannot export it for public certificates • Imported Certificates: You can import third-party certificates, but ACM will NOT auto-renew them • Wildcard Certificates: ACM supports wildcard certificates (e.g., *.example.com)
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on AWS Certificate Manager
Tip 1 - CloudFront Certificate Region: When a question mentions CloudFront with SSL/TLS, remember that certificates must be in the us-east-1 region. This is a frequently tested concept.
Tip 2 - DNS vs Email Validation: Questions about automated renewal or minimal operational overhead point toward DNS validation. Choose email validation only when DNS modification is not possible.
Tip 3 - Imported Certificates: If a question involves third-party or externally purchased certificates, remember that you must manually track expiration and renew them yourself. ACM does not auto-renew imported certificates.
Tip 4 - Private Key Export: ACM-generated public certificates do NOT allow private key export. If a scenario requires the private key for use on EC2 instances or on-premises servers, the answer involves importing your own certificate or using AWS Private CA.
Tip 5 - ACM Private CA: For internal applications, private PKI infrastructure, or IoT device certificates, look for AWS Private Certificate Authority as the solution. Note that Private CA has associated costs.
Tip 6 - EC2 and ACM: ACM certificates cannot be installed on EC2 instances. For EC2 web servers, you must use third-party certificates or place an Application Load Balancer in front to handle SSL termination.
Tip 7 - Certificate Transparency: Public ACM certificates are logged in Certificate Transparency logs by default. This is important for compliance and monitoring scenarios.
Common Exam Scenarios: • Securing a website with HTTPS → Use ACM with ALB or CloudFront • Reducing certificate management overhead → Use DNS validation for auto-renewal • Global content delivery with SSL → ACM certificate in us-east-1 with CloudFront • Internal microservices encryption → AWS Private CA • Certificate expiration monitoring → Use CloudWatch Events or AWS Config for imported certificates