diff --git a/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/Makefile.am b/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/Makefile.am
index fd8f4ab2166c06..5ec978ac02bb57 100644
--- a/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/Makefile.am
+++ b/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/Makefile.am
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ MAINTAINERCLEANFILES = $(srcdir)/Makefile.in
 
 dist_noinst_DATA = \
     README.md \
+    systemd-journal-self-signed-certs.sh \
+    passive_journal_centralization_guide_no_encryption.md \
+    passive_journal_centralization_guide_self_signed_certs.md \
     $(NULL)
 
 dist_libconfig_DATA = \
diff --git a/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/systemd-journal-self-signed-certs.sh b/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/systemd-journal-self-signed-certs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000000..ada735f1fbc215
--- /dev/null
+++ b/collectors/systemd-journal.plugin/systemd-journal-self-signed-certs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,267 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+me="${0}"
+dst="/etc/ssl/systemd-journal"
+
+show_usage() {
+      cat <<EOFUSAGE
+
+${me} [options] server_name alias1 alias2 ...
+
+server_name
+      the canonical name of the server on the certificates
+
+aliasN
+      a hostname or IP this server is reachable with
+      DNS names should be like DNS:hostname
+      IPs should be like IP:1.2.3.4
+      Any number of aliases are accepted per server
+
+options can be:
+
+  -h, --help
+      show this message
+
+  -d, --directory DIRECTORY
+      change the default certificates install dir
+      default: ${dst}
+
+EOFUSAGE
+}
+
+while [ ! -z "${1}" ]; do
+      case "${1}" in
+            -h|--help)
+                  show_usage
+                  exit 0
+                  ;;
+
+            -d|--directory)
+                  dst="${2}"
+                  echo >&2 "directory set to: ${dst}"
+                  shift
+                  ;;
+
+            *)
+                  break 2
+                  ;;
+      esac
+
+      shift
+done
+
+if [ -z "${1}" ]; then
+      show_usage
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+
+# Define a regular expression pattern for a valid canonical name
+valid_canonical_name_pattern="^[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9.-]+$"
+
+# Check if ${1} matches the pattern
+if [[ ! "${1}" =~ ${valid_canonical_name_pattern} ]]; then
+    echo "Certificate name '${1}' is not valid."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Create the CA
+
+# stop on all errors
+set -e
+
+if [ $UID -ne 0 ]
+then
+      echo >&2 "Hey! sudo me: sudo ${me}"
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! getent group systemd-journal >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      echo >&2 "Missing system group: systemd-journal. Did you install systemd-journald?"
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! getent passwd systemd-journal-remote >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      echo >&2 "Missing system user: systemd-journal-remote. Did you install systemd-journal-remote?"
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "${dst}" ]
+then
+      mkdir -p "${dst}"
+      chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal "${dst}"
+      chmod 750 "${dst}"
+fi
+
+cd "${dst}"
+
+test ! -f ca.conf && cat >ca.conf <<EOF
+[ ca ]
+default_ca = CA_default
+[ CA_default ]
+new_certs_dir = .
+certificate = ca.pem
+database = ./index
+private_key = ca.key
+serial = ./serial
+default_days = 3650
+default_md = default
+policy = policy_anything
+[ policy_anything ]
+countryName             = optional
+stateOrProvinceName     = optional
+localityName            = optional
+organizationName        = optional
+organizationalUnitName  = optional
+commonName              = supplied
+emailAddress            = optional
+EOF
+
+test ! -f index && touch index
+test ! -f serial && echo 0001 >serial
+
+if [ ! -f ca.pem -o ! -f ca.key ]; then
+      echo >&2 "Generating ca.pem ..."
+
+      openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -days 3650 -x509 -nodes -out ca.pem -keyout ca.key -subj "/CN=systemd-journal-remote-ca/"
+      chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal ca.pem
+      chmod 0640 ca.pem
+fi
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Create a server certificate
+
+generate_server_certificate() {
+      local cn="${1}"; shift
+
+      if [ ! -f "${cn}.pem" -o ! -f "${cn}.key" ]; then
+            if [ -z "${*}" ]; then
+                  echo >"${cn}.conf"
+            else
+                  echo "subjectAltName = $(echo "${@}" | tr " " ",")" >"${cn}.conf"
+            fi
+
+            echo >&2 "Generating server: ${cn}.pem and ${cn}.key ..."
+
+            openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -out "${cn}.csr" -keyout "${cn}.key" -subj "/CN=${cn}/"
+            openssl ca -batch -config ca.conf -notext -in "${cn}.csr" -out "${cn}.pem" -extfile "${cn}.conf"
+      else
+            echo >&2 "certificates for ${cn} are already available."
+      fi
+
+      chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal "${cn}.pem" "${cn}.key"
+      chmod 0640 "${cn}.pem" "${cn}.key"
+}
+
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Create a script to install the certificate on each server
+
+generate_install_script() {
+      local cn="${1}"
+      local dst="/etc/ssl/systemd-journal"
+
+      cat >"runme-on-${cn}.sh" <<EOFC1
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# stop on all errors
+set -e
+
+if [ \$UID -ne 0 ]; then
+      echo >&2 "Hey! sudo me: sudo \${0}"
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+# make sure the systemd-journal group exists
+# all certificates will be owned by this group
+if ! getent group systemd-journal >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      echo >&2 "Missing system group: systemd-journal. Did you install systemd-journald?"
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! getent passwd systemd-journal-remote >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      echo >&2 "Missing system user: systemd-journal-remote. Did you install systemd-journal-remote?"
+      exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d ${dst} ]; then
+      echo >&2 "creating directory: ${dst}"
+      mkdir -p "${dst}"
+fi
+chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal "${dst}"
+chmod 750 "${dst}"
+cd "${dst}"
+
+echo >&2 "saving trusted certificate file as: ${dst}/ca.pem"
+cat >ca.pem <<EOFCAPEM
+$(cat ca.pem)
+EOFCAPEM
+
+chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal ca.pem
+chmod 0640 ca.pem
+
+echo >&2 "saving server ${cn} certificate file as: ${dst}/${cn}.pem"
+cat >"${cn}.pem" <<EOFSERPEM
+$(cat "${cn}.pem")
+EOFSERPEM
+
+chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal "${cn}.pem"
+chmod 0640 "${cn}.pem"
+
+echo >&2 "saving server ${cn} key file as: ${dst}/${cn}.key"
+cat >"${cn}.key" <<EOFSERKEY
+$(cat "${cn}.key")
+EOFSERKEY
+
+chown systemd-journal-remote:systemd-journal "${cn}.key"
+chmod 0640 "${cn}.key"
+
+for cfg in /etc/systemd/journal-remote.conf /etc/systemd/journal-upload.conf
+do
+      if [ -f \${cfg} ]; then
+            # keep a backup of the file
+            test ! -f \${cfg}.orig && cp \${cfg} \${cfg}.orig
+
+            # fix its contents
+            echo >&2 "updating the certificates in \${cfg}"
+            sed -i "s|^#\\?\\s*ServerKeyFile=.*$|ServerKeyFile=${dst}/${cn}.key|" \${cfg}
+            sed -i "s|^#\\?\\s*ServerCertificateFile=.*$|ServerCertificateFile=${dst}/${cn}.pem|" \${cfg}
+            sed -i "s|^#\\?\\s*TrustedCertificateFile=.*$|TrustedCertificateFile=${dst}/ca.pem|" \${cfg}
+      fi
+done
+
+echo >&2 "certificates installed - you may need to restart services to active them"
+echo >&2
+echo >&2 "If this is a central server:"
+echo >&2 "# systemctl restart systemd-journal-remote.socket"
+echo >&2
+echo >&2 "If this is a passive client:"
+echo >&2 "# systemctl restart systemd-journal-upload.service"
+echo >&2
+echo >&2 "If this is an active client:"
+echo >&2 "# systemctl restart systemd-journal-gateway.socket"
+EOFC1
+
+      chmod 0700 "runme-on-${cn}.sh"
+}
+
+# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Create the client certificates
+
+generate_server_certificate "${@}"
+generate_install_script "${1}"
+
+
+# Set ANSI escape code for colors
+yellow_color="\033[1;33m"
+green_color="\033[0;32m"
+# Reset ANSI color after the message
+reset_color="\033[0m"
+
+
+echo >&2 -e "use this script to install it on ${1}: ${yellow_color}$(ls ${dst}/runme-on-${1}.sh)${reset_color}"
+echo >&2 "copy it to your server ${1}, like this:"
+echo >&2 -e "# ${green_color}scp ${dst}/runme-on-${1}.sh ${1}:/tmp/${reset_color}"
+echo >&2 "and then run it on that server to install the certificates"
+echo >&2