The appliance uses a certificate for authentication over SSL. The certificate contains a public key, and the appliance maintains the corresponding private key, which is uniquely tied to the public key.
A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted party that issues a certificate that enables others, who trust the CA, to also trust the host. In essence, the CA vouches for the host.
Obtaining a CA-authenticated certificate
Prerequisites
Next step: After you receive the certificate from the CA, import the certificate. See Import a certificate.