Import the connection certificate - References - SIMATIC AX - AX Hardware Engineering documentation - Hardware Engineering,

With the import-certificate command, certificates can be imported and used for a specific purpose. The certificate with the purpose TLS is the certificate used to secure the communication between an engineering tool (like Hardware Loader) and the PLC.

To import the certificate named SampleCertificate.p12 and assign the purpose TLS, run

apax hwc import-certificate --name "PLC_1" --input "Sample.hwl.json" --certificate "SampleCertificate.p12" --password "PasswordOfSampleCertificate" --purpose "TLS"

Note that you will need to provide the password for the certificate if the certificate is protected.

For details, refer to Certificate Handling.