Abstract: A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for issuing digital certificates to a client is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of accepting a digital certificate request from a client in a web server, the digital certificate request comprising at least one client parameter, passing the client parameter to user exit external to the web server via an interface implemented by a servlet property file to determine if a digital certificate should be issued to the client, and transmitting the digital certificate to the client if the external processing module indicates that the digital certificate should be issued to the client. The article of manufacture comprises a data storage device tangibly embodying instructions to perform the method steps described above.