This document provides step-by-step guidance on how to make your certificates discoverable to the Catena-X Network using the Dataspace OS Certificate Management Application.
Discoverability means that any member of Catena-X can retrieve your published certificate via the PULL mechanism, enabling secure, on-demand access when certificate validation is required.
Making your certificate available and discoverable within Catena-X offers several advantages:
Simplified certificate validation: Other participants can retrieve and verify your certificate directly when establishing secure connections.
Reduced manual exchange: There is no need to distribute certificates individually to each partner.
Automated integration: Systems can programmatically access certificates, supporting seamless machine-to-machine communication.
Network-wide trust enablement: Public availability of certificates supports secure interactions across the ecosystem.
Scalability: As your number of partners grows, automated certificate retrieval ensures efficient and maintainable collaboration.
Prerequisites
Before starting the certificate exchange process, ensure the following steps are completed:
Your company is successfully onboarded in the Cofinity-X Portal.
You signed data governance credentials. navigate in the Cofinity-X portal to Profile Menu → Company Wallet → Request New Credential. Select DataExchangeGovernance and Proceed.
You have subscribed to the Dataspace OS application via the Cofinity-X Portal Marketplace. For additional information or assistance, please contact [email protected].
1. Obtain BPNA or BPNS for the site associated with the certificate
For the Certificate Management use case, you need to obtain a BPNA or BPNS for the certificate. Please check with your partner whether a BPNA or a BPNS is required for your certificate.
Site (BPNS) - Upload your site data via the Cofinity-X Portal – You can create and manage it yourself in the Cofinity-X Portal. With the user role Business Partner Data Manager, add your site data under Profile menu → Your Company → Add Site.
For a detailed guidance please reference here: Data provisioning | Cofinity-X Help CenterAddress (BPNA) - Retrieve the for each individual location to which the certificate applies. Follow the guidance here: Retrieve your BPNA for Certificate Management
2. Upload your Certificate via Dataspace OS Certificate Management
2.1 Sign in to Dataspace OS
Log in to Dataspace OS using the username and password provided by customer support, or via Cofinity-X Portal SSO. Detailed instructions are available here: First Sign in to Dataspace OS | Cofinity-X Help Center
Navigate to: Plus Applications → Certificate Management → Open App
Note: If the Certificate Management application is not yet activated for your account, please contact [email protected] to request activation.
2.2 Uploading Certificates
Your certificate is already in the list? Jump here.
Open the Certificate Management section.
Click on “Provide Certificate”:
2. Upload the certificate document and fill out the required fields:
Certificate Type, Version, Registration Number, and Validity – all can be found on the certificate.
Select the Certifier and optionally add the Certifier BPNA.
3. Link the certificate to the site/address:
Fill in the BPNS or BPNA and provide a location name.
Click Add Entry and then Next Step.
4. Validate the data and add the certificate.
3. Make your Certificate discoverable:
3.1. Newly uploaded certificate
When uploading a new certificate:
After following the steps above, click “Add certificate”.
In the next step, ensure that Discoverability is set to “Yes.”
Click “Share certificate.”
3.2. Existing Certificate
Identify the certificate in the list.
Open Actions → Share with partner.
Set Discoverability to “Yes”.