Call SSL endpoint from spring-boot app - ssl

Question

I have a spring-boot intranet webapp which need not be ssl secured as it is used within company.
The app calls an external https endpoint. To call the https endpoint I used InstallCert.java to generate a new trust store and import the certificate needed to call the https url using the procedure shown here.
https://www.mkyong.com/webservices/jax-ws/suncertpathbuilderexception-unable-to-find-valid-certification-path-to-requested-target/
Doing >java InstallCert hosturl generated jssecacerts trust store and imported the certificate
I have the following as my application.proeprties
server.port: 8080
server.contextPath=/mpservice
management.port: 9001
management.address: 127.0.0.1
logging.file=mpservice.log
logging.level.root=INFO
logging.level.org.springframework.web=DEBUG
server.ssl.key-store=C:/Users/cho4157/Downloads/InstallCert/jssecacerts
server.ssl.key-store-password=changeit
server.ssl.client-auth=need
server.ssl.trust-store=C:/Users/cho4157/Downloads/InstallCert/jssecacerts
server.ssl.trust-store-password=changeit
The tomcat server starts fine as the logs show below but When I hit the endpoints the browser says that localhost didn't send any data.
2016-08-01 19:18:20.968 INFO 16944 --- [main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat started on port(s): 9001 (https)
2016-08-01 19:18:20.970 DEBUG 16944 --- [main] o.s.w.c.s.StandardServletEnvironment : Adding [server.ports] PropertySource with highest search precedence
2016-08-01 19:18:20.970 DEBUG 16944 --- [main] o.s.w.c.s.StandardServletEnvironment : Adding [server.ports] PropertySource with highest search precedence
2016-08-01 19:18:20.976 INFO 16944 --- [main] o.s.c.support.DefaultLifecycleProcessor : Starting beans in phase 0
2016-08-01 19:18:21.418 INFO 16944 --- [main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat started on port(s): 8080 (https)
When I comment out server.ssl.* properties in application.properties everything works fine except posting to the https endpoint which throws the below exception as expected. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.
Caused by: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.afterConnect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.connect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at org.springframework.http.client.SimpleBufferingClientHttpRequest.executeInternal(SimpleBufferingClientHttpRequest.java:80)
at org.springframework.http.client.AbstractBufferingClientHttpRequest.executeInternal(AbstractBufferingClientHttpRequest.java:48)
at org.springframework.http.client.AbstractClientHttpRequest.execute(AbstractClientHttpRequest.java:53)
at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate.doExecute(RestTemplate.java:596)
... 8 more
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkTrusted(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(Unknown Source)
... 23 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.build(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(Unknown Source)
at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(Unknown Source)
... 29 more
I also tried setting following system properties
static
{
System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore","C:\\Users\\jojo\\Downloads\\InstallCert\\jssecacerts");
System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword", "changeit");
System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.keyStore", "C:\\Users\\jojo\\Downloads\\InstallCert\\jssecacerts");
System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword", "changeit");
}
even with the above piece of code I was getting javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException:
I have been trying to get this configuration working for the past 2 days with little success. Please help.