Practical tools for system, network, security, and operations administrators.

SEC-C0019 · PKI & Certificates

Preparing for 47-Day Certificate Lifetimes

Plan for shorter certificate lifetimes. Do not replace a live certificate during the reading.

Updated 25 October 2026 · How-To

This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.

What this hour is for

Preparing for 47-Day Certificate Lifetimes is a calendar and a lifetime note. Forty-seven days is a planning figure, not an order you carry out today. Do not replace a live certificate during the reading.

Write the system you administer, the name of this change, and the time. A second change waits until this line has been read back.

The browser tool drafts text or reads a paste you already hold. It does not log in, it does not scan a network you do not administer, and it does not apply.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. A sample password is replaced.

The change you can finish

Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the system named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the system, then decide.

Rollback is the file, the record, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.

  1. Write the names you administer.
  2. Write the current expiry you already know.
  3. Write who renews it.
  4. Do not replace the live certificate.
  5. Stop.

Mistakes that outlive the statement

Preparing for 47-Day Certificate Lifetimes goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.

Decisions to write down

One decision for Preparing for 47-Day Certificate Lifetimes: The names are yours. The date is a plan. Nothing is replaced. An owner is named. And one set of names is enough.

Checks before you call it done

Confirm this before you call the change done: The names are written. Nothing was replaced. The owner is named. The date is labelled a plan. And a second person can say the next expiry. If one of those fails, stop.

# Lifetime plan. Do not replace a live certificate during the reading.

Before you leave the system

Preparing for 47-Day Certificate Lifetimes ends when the system in the note is the system in the ticket. If it is not, stop.

The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log in, does not scan, and does not send mail.

192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you publish because a draft included them.

prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save. A sample password is replaced. It is not a password you keep.

One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it.

If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. Restore the copy you took first.

A second person reads the scope aloud. If they cannot find it in the ticket, the note is not done.

This page is a planning guide. It is not legal advice, not an audit opinion, not a vendor manual, and not the text of a standard. You do not disable a security control to make a check pass. You do not use the page against a system you do not administer.

Tools for this guide

These tools run in the browser on this site. They do not log into your machines.

More in this cluster

The pillar for this page, and the next published pages filed with it.