diff --git a/server/src/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceImpl.java b/server/src/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceImpl.java
index ba71d631a94..c2c155d0b8c 100644
--- a/server/src/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceImpl.java
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ package org.apache.cloudstack.network.lb;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringReader;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
-import java.net.URLDecoder;
 import java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException;
 import java.security.InvalidKeyException;
 import java.security.KeyPair;
@@ -53,18 +51,17 @@ import javax.crypto.NoSuchPaddingException;
 import javax.ejb.Local;
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 
-import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
-import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
-import org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider;
-import org.bouncycastle.openssl.PEMReader;
-import org.bouncycastle.openssl.PasswordFinder;
-
 import org.apache.cloudstack.acl.SecurityChecker;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.DeleteSslCertCmd;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.ListSslCertsCmd;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.UploadSslCertCmd;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.response.SslCertResponse;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.context.CallContext;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+import org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider;
+import org.bouncycastle.openssl.PEMReader;
+import org.bouncycastle.openssl.PasswordFinder;
 
 import com.cloud.event.ActionEvent;
 import com.cloud.event.EventTypes;
@@ -109,10 +106,10 @@ public class CertServiceImpl implements CertService {
     public SslCertResponse uploadSslCert(UploadSslCertCmd certCmd) {
         try {
 
-            String cert = URLDecoder.decode(certCmd.getCert(), "UTF-8");
-            String key = URLDecoder.decode(certCmd.getKey(), "UTF-8");
+            String cert = certCmd.getCert();
+            String key = certCmd.getKey();
             String password = certCmd.getPassword();
-            String chain = certCmd.getChain() == null ? null : URLDecoder.decode(certCmd.getChain(), "UTF-8");
+            String chain = certCmd.getChain();
 
             validate(cert, key, password, chain);
             s_logger.debug("Certificate Validation succeeded");
@@ -127,8 +124,8 @@ public class CertServiceImpl implements CertService {
 
             return createCertResponse(certVO, null);
 
-        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-            throw new CloudRuntimeException("Error decoding certificate data");
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new CloudRuntimeException("Error parsing certificate data " + e.getMessage());
         }
 
     }
@@ -429,7 +426,7 @@ public class CertServiceImpl implements CertService {
         try {
             return (Certificate)certPem.readObject();
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            throw new InvalidParameterValueException("Invalid Certificate format. Expected X509 certificate");
+            throw new InvalidParameterValueException("Invalid Certificate format. Expected X509 certificate. Failed due to " + e.getMessage());
         } finally {
             IOUtils.closeQuietly(certPem);
         }
diff --git a/server/test/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceTest.java b/server/test/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceTest.java
index a67a9abf12b..038845d9283 100644
--- a/server/test/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceTest.java
+++ b/server/test/org/apache/cloudstack/network/lb/CertServiceTest.java
@@ -27,21 +27,19 @@ import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
-import java.net.URLEncoder;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.UUID;
 
+import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.DeleteSslCertCmd;
+import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.UploadSslCertCmd;
+import org.apache.cloudstack.context.CallContext;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Assume;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
-import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.DeleteSslCertCmd;
-import org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.loadbalancer.UploadSslCertCmd;
-import org.apache.cloudstack.context.CallContext;
-
 import com.cloud.network.dao.LoadBalancerCertMapDao;
 import com.cloud.network.dao.LoadBalancerCertMapVO;
 import com.cloud.network.dao.LoadBalancerVO;
@@ -101,9 +99,9 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String chainFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/root_chain.crt").getFile();
         String password = "user";
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String chain = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(chainFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
+        String chain = readFileToString(new File(chainFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -153,8 +151,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed_with_pwd.key").getFile();
         String password = "test";
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -199,8 +197,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String certFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.crt").getFile();
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.key").getFile();
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -239,9 +237,9 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String chainFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.crt").getFile();
         String password = "user";
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String chain = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(chainFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
+        String chain = readFileToString(new File(chainFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -291,9 +289,9 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String chainFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_ca_signed2.crt").getFile();
         String password = "user";
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String chain = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(chainFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
+        String chain = readFileToString(new File(chainFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -343,8 +341,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_ca_signed.key").getFile();
         String password = "user";
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -388,8 +386,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed_with_pwd.key").getFile();
         String password = "bad_password";
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -432,8 +430,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String certFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.crt").getFile();
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_random_pkey.key").getFile();
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -471,8 +469,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String certFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.crt").getFile();
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/dsa_self_signed.key").getFile();
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -511,8 +509,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String certFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/expired_cert.crt").getFile();
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.key").getFile();
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -550,8 +548,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String certFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/non_x509_pem.crt").getFile();
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.key").getFile();
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();
 
@@ -590,8 +588,8 @@ public class CertServiceTest {
         String certFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/bad_format_cert.crt").getFile();
         String keyFile = getClass().getResource("/certs/rsa_self_signed.key").getFile();
 
-        String cert = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(certFile)), "UTF-8");
-        String key = URLEncoder.encode(readFileToString(new File(keyFile)), "UTF-8");
+        String cert = readFileToString(new File(certFile));
+        String key = readFileToString(new File(keyFile));
 
         CertServiceImpl certService = new CertServiceImpl();