Managing digital certificates

1. A system for managing digital certificates, comprising:

a host system of a telecommunications provider comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a user interface;

a plurality of disparate host certificate stores comprising a plurality of host server certificates; and

a management tool comprising instructions stored on the memory that when executed by the processor:

retrieves a copy of one of the plurality of host server certificates from any of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores,

provides the copy of the one of the plurality of host server certificates to a vendor's partner system for loading in a partner certificate store,

communicates with the partner system to validate the one of the plurality of host server certificates,

validates the copy of the one of the plurality of host server certificates loaded in the partner certificate store,

outputs a host server certificate message based on the validation to the user interface,

communicates with the vendor's partner system to validate a host client certificate, a partner server certificate, and a partner client certificate, wherein the plurality of host server certificates, the host client certificate, the partner server certificate, and the partner client certificate allow the host system to access applications of the vendor's partner system and the vendor's partner system to access applications of the host system,

retrieves a copy of the partner server certificate from the partner system,

loads the copy of the partner server certificate to any of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores,

communicates with the partner system to validate the copy of the partner server certificate, and

outputs a partner server certificate message to the user interface.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the management tool generates a certificate signing request, forwards the certificate signing request to the vendor's partner system, receives the host client certificate from the vendor's partner system, verifies the host client certificate is valid, provides a copy of the host client certificate to any of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores, translates the host client certificate for use by host applications, uploads the host client certificate to the host applications in a proper format, communicates with the vendor's partner system to validate the host client certificate, and outputs a host client certificate message to the user interface.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the management tool prompts the vendor's partner system for a certificate signing request, forwards the certificate signing request to a certification authority, receives the partner client certificate from the certification authority, provides a copy of the partner client certificate to any of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores, and forwards the partner client certificate to the vendor's partner system for loading in the partner certificate store.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the management tool requests communication from the vendor's partner system to the management tool using the copy of the partner client certificate validates the partner client certificate, and outputs a partner client certificate message to the user interface.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the management tool simulates communication from the vendor's partner system using the copy of the partner client certificate to validate the partner client certificate, and outputs a partner client certificate message to the user interface.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the management tool uses a test message to at least one of communicate with the vendor's partner system and simulate communication from the vendor's partner system.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the host system is at least one of a test environment prior to testing an application, a production environment executing the management tool on a periodic basis, and a production environment executing the management tool in response to a request to identify a source of a problem.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the management tool ensures each of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores exists, opens each of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores, ensures each certificate store password in the plurality of disparate host certificate stores is valid, ensures each of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores is properly formatted, and reports any expired entries to the user interface.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the management tool validates public key/private key pairs used for client identity during secure sockets layer communications to validate a global certificate store.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the management tool validates trusted certificate entries used for server certificate trust validation during secure sockets layer communications to validate a global trust store.

11. A computer implemented method for managing digital certificates, comprising:

retrieving, by a host system of a telecommunications provider comprising a processor, a copy of one of a plurality of host server certificates from any of a plurality of disparate host certificate stores;

providing, by the host system, the copy of the one of the plurality of host server certificates to a vendor's partner system for loading in a partner certificate store;

communicating, by the host system, with the vendor's partner system to validate the one of the plurality of host server certificates loaded in the partner certificate store;

validating, by the host system, the one of the plurality of host server certificates loaded in the partner certificate store;

outputting, by the host system, a host server certificate message based on the validation to a user interface;

communicating, by the host system, with the vendor's partner system to validate a host client certificate, a partner server certificate, and a partner client certificate, wherein the plurality of host server certificates, the host client certificate, the partner server certificate, and the partner client certificate allow the host system to access applications on the vendor's partner system and the vendor's partner system to access applications on the host system;

retrieving, by the host system, a copy of the partner server certificate from the partner system;

loading, by the host system, the copy of the partner server certificate to any of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores;

communicating, by the host system, with the partner system to validate the cony of the partner server certificate; and

outputting, by the host system, a partner server certificate message to the user interface.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 , further comprising:

Identifying, by the host system, an expiration date for a certificate in one of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores; and

outputting, by the host system, an expiration notice to a user interface when the expiration date for the certificate is within a specified date range.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12 , further comprising:

creating, by the host system, a new certificate store based on the one of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores in response to a selection via the user interface;

generating, by the host system, a certificate signing request;

forwarding, by the host system, the certificate signing request to a certification authority;

receiving, by the host system, a new certificate that corresponds to the certificate from the certification authority;

loading, by the host system, the new certificate in the new certificate store;

providing, by the host system, the new certificate to the vendor's partner system;

receiving, by the host system, a notification associated with the new certificate from the vendor's partner system; and

overwriting, by the host system, the new certificate store on the one of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13 , wherein creating a new certificate store based on the one of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores comprises copying a subject name, an encryption algorithm, an email attribute, and a distribution list from the one of the plurality of disparate host certificate stores to the new certificate store.