The private key can be used to create a digital signature for any piece of data using a digital signature algorithm. This typically involves taking a cryptographic hash of the data and operating on it mathematically using the private key. Any device with the public key can check that this signature was created using the private key and the appropriate signature validation algorithm.
SLX-OS supports DSA, RSA and ECDSA encryption keys for HTTPS cryptography. You can generate key pairs, create trust points, and then authenticate and enroll the key pairs into the trust points to obtain the identity certificates.