<div class="content" name="Introduction" uuid="aca00f5a-b6c1-4235-b3f4-5232645f159c"><p>The Certificate Services Remote Administration Protocol
consists of a set of <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_ae2a9876-7fed-4f0d-a390-bf78f76c0736" data-linktype="relative-path">Distributed Component Object
Model (DCOM)</a></span> interfaces, as specified in <span><a href="../ms-dcom/4a893f3d-bd29-48cd-9f43-d9777a4415b0" data-linktype="relative-path">[MS-DCOM]</a></span>,
that allow administrative tools to configure the state and policy of a <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_c925d5d7-a442-4ba4-9586-5f94ccec847a" data-linktype="relative-path">certification
authority (CA)</a></span> on a server.</p><p>For a complete understanding of this protocol, familiarity
with <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_fbe33f73-7a2c-4134-ab9e-7a12c6d01348" data-linktype="relative-path">public
key infrastructure (PKI)</a></span> concepts such as asymmetric and symmetric
cryptography, asymmetric and <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_5d5fbe33-fb23-4288-bf7d-d8bd4593631c" data-linktype="relative-path">symmetric encryption</a></span>
techniques, digital certificate concepts, and cryptographic <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_718bfd46-3cd2-45e8-befa-55f5c9f3be7b" data-linktype="relative-path">key</a></span>
establishment is required. A comprehensive understanding of the X.509 standard,
as specified in <span><a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90590" data-linktype="external">[X509]</a></span>, is also
required.</p><p>The Handbook of Applied Cryptography provides an excellent
introduction to cryptography and PKI concepts. For more information, see <span><a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=89841" data-linktype="external">[CRYPTO]</a></span>.
The X.509 standard, as specified in [X509], provides an excellent introduction
to PKI and <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_7a0f4b71-23ba-434f-b781-28053ed64879" data-linktype="relative-path">certificate</a></span>
concepts. <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_c0b88116-a183-4cdd-9307-46a4dc125592" data-linktype="relative-path">Certificate revocation</a></span>
and status checking provides an excellent introduction to <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_4f22841f-249b-42fb-a31a-5049c00be939" data-linktype="relative-path">certificate
revocation lists (CRLs)</a></span> and <span><a href="c6451297-197d-4b4b-b786-3f3187b67b8f#gt_caac8fa2-5e21-43b9-a3fe-be0819b906bf" data-linktype="relative-path">revocation</a></span> concepts.
For more information, see <span><a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90181" data-linktype="external">[MSFT-CRL]</a></span>.</p><p>Sections 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 2, and 3 of this specification are
normative. All other sections and examples in this specification are
informative.</p></div>