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[13:14:55 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> I fixed it*
[16:38:42 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> FYI, when receiving this error: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
[16:39:11 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> this is because the key that was generated at the beginning of the BEST Practices Guide isn't put into the trusted keystore.
[16:39:33 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> the initial key that is generated is put into the ~userhome/.keystore
[16:40:11 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> this key needs to be imported into the /usr/java/default/jre/lib/security/cacerts keystore
[16:41:06 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore ~userhome/.keystore -destkeystore /usr/java/default/jre/lib/security/cacerts
[16:41:16 CDT(-0500)] <suntzu> that resolved my issue.