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A keystore is a file that holds the public and private key pairs and certificates. The Keystore is a database of public and private keys. Java keytool is used to generate the public/private key pairs. Java keytool utility is present at can be accessed from %JAVA_HOME%/bin.

To generate a keystore, perform the following actions:

1. Open a Command prompt window and type in the following command and press ENTER:
   %JAVA_HOME%\bin\keytool -genkey -alias [alias name] -keystore [keystoreName] -keyalg [algorithm] -validity [days in integer] -storepass [store password] - keypass [key password]
 

2. Here is a brief description of the options used in the keytool command:
   
   

   Key	Description
   -genkey	Requests keytool to generate a key pair
   -alias	Identifies the new key pair within the keystore
   -storetype	Declares the type of the keystore. JKS is the default typestoretype
   -keyalg	Declares the algorithm to be used; we are using the . RSA public key algorithm, which is the default algorithm.
   -storepass	Specifies the password for the entire keystore
   -keypass	Specifies the password for the new key pair
   -Validity	It is the validity Validity of the key pair in days
   -keystore	File that holds the public and private key pairs

   For example, to generate the keystore in the directory d:\WorkStudio\keystore, provide the command would be:

   D:\WorkStudio\keystore>%JAVA_HOME%\bin\keytool -genkey -alias client1 -keystore client1.keystore -keyalg RSA -validity 365 -storepass cl1storepass -keypass cl1keypass
 

3. Press ENTER. The result of the command is as shown in the figure below figure.
   
   

   
   Figure 1: Running the keytool command