Base64-encoded certificates
The binary certificate and the PKCS #7 and #12 binary packages
can be additionally encoded using the base64 algorithm. Base64 encoding
is a mechanism to convert binary data into text so that it can be
easily transported as text, such as within an e-mail. When converting
from binary to text, each three bytes of binary are converted into
four characters from the following set: a–z, A–Z, 0–9, \,
and +. When you peek at a base64-encoded certificate
on any platform, it looks similar to the following:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
Remember: Base64-encoded certificates are text. When you transfer them to or from a z/OS® system, you must transfer them as text to ensure that the ASCII translation to or from EBCDIC takes place. Using ASCII (not binary) FTP or a text cut-and-paste will suffice. Be sure to include the BEGIN and END lines in your transfer.