Get certificate

LinkedDataHub uses WebID as the Single sign-on (SSO) protocol for distributed applications, which is based on authentication using TLS client certificates. Using WebID, you will be able to authenticate with every LinkedDataHub dataspace. Read more about WebID.

There are two ways to get a LinkedDataHub WebID: run your own instance or sign up to an existing one.

Run your own instance

Complete the setup to run your own instance of LinkedDataHub.

The ssl/owner/keystore.p12 file is your WebID certificate. The password is the owner_cert_password Docker secret value.

Sign up to an existing instance

Click the Sign up button and fill out the form with your details to get a WebID, as shown below.

You will get an email with a .p12 file attached, which is your WebID certificate. The certificate's password is the one you entered in the signup form.

The command line interface reads the PKCS12 (.p12) file directly — no conversion needed. Setup writes it to ssl/owner/keystore.p12.

curl needs a PEM version instead. Setup writes that too, to ssl/owner/cert.pem. A certificate received by email can be converted from PKCS12 to PEM with OpenSSL:

openssl pkcs12 -in cert.p12 -out cert.pem -nodes

Install certificate

The final step is to install the client certificate into your web browser. Import the .p12 file with your browser's certificate manager, using the certificate's password (from signup, or the owner_cert_password secret if you ran setup). Open the manager dialog following the steps below, depending on which browser you use:

Google Chrome

Settings > Advanced > Manage Certificates > Import...

Mozilla Firefox

Options > Privacy & Security > View Certificates... > Import...

Apple Safari

The file is installed directly into the operating system. Open the file and import it using the Keychain Access tool. Drag the .p12 file to the login section.

Microsoft Edge

Edge has no certificate manager of its own — install the file into the Windows certificate store. Read more here.

You need to install the certificate on all devices/browsers that you are using to access LinkedDataHub.

Log in

Open the LinkedDataHub instance in the browser you installed the certificate into. Using a local setup, it runs on https://localhost:4443/ by default.

With the certificate installed, there is no login procedure — you are automatically authenticated on all LinkedDataHub dataspaces. This is known as Single sign-on (SSO).

Dataspaces may make some or all of their documents public; you can browse those without authenticating. To reach protected (non-public) resources, or the administration dataspace, you have to be authenticated and authorized (authorizations can be requested).