> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.x509.wiki/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://www.x509.wiki/enrollment-methods.md).

# Enrollment Methods

The core challenge when enrolling certificates is how to authenticate the device or user requesting the certificate.  With the certificate, the CA confirms that the certificate owner has specific properties and that it has checked their authenticity.

Therefore, one core property of certificate enrollment protocols is how they authenticate the certificate requester. Depending on what the certificate is used for, one or the other protocol is more advantageous.

One additional important property is its practical adoption. The enrollment method or protocol must be supported by both the CA and on the client side for the intended use case.

The most popular enrollment protocols are:

* [SCEP](/enrollment-methods/scep.md)
* ACME
* EST
* [Microsoft's RPC/DCOM](/enrollment-methods/microsoft-rpc-dcom.md)
* Microsoft's SOAP
* Manual enrollment on the CA's web page
* Other proprietary protocols

|                | <p>Microsoft proprietary<br>DCOM and RPC</p>          | <p>WS-Trust Enrollment Extension</p><p>SOAP Enrollment</p>                     | <p>Automatic Certificate Management Environment</p><p>(ACME)</p> | Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) | Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST)  |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| Specifications | Microsoft OpenSpec1                                   | Microsoft OpenSpec2                                                            | RFC 8555                                                         | Informal, now RFC 8894                        | RFC 7030 (+ …)                          |
| Implementation | Server side: Active Directory CS Client side: Windows | Server side: ADCS, others?  Client side: Windows                               | Server side: Let’s Encrypt  Client side: Many                    | Many server and client implementations        | Poor adoption                           |
| Authentication | AD Authentication                                     | <p>AD Authentication\*<br>(formally, username/password might not be in AD)</p> | DNS Authentication                                               | “SCEP Challenge”                              | CBA or HTTP Basic/Digest Authentication |


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