Alex,
Thanks for taking the time to write such an informative response.
I have already installed a certificate that was issued from our domain CA. I already have it working on our qa server as well as
our production server (just a test until we get our "real" certificate). It works over the internet as well as locally.
My problem is that once I have the cert installed on my computer, I cannot access the site on the local web server using https. I
have even given my laptop a fixed ip and registered it in DNS. Even when I use the fixed name of the computer instead of local host
it will not work.
I created three different certificates, using localhost, the NetBIOS name and the FQDN of the machine. I could not get any of them
to work.
Is there something else I have to do to get this to work?
Thanks.
Alex Egg said:
Since Windows XP isn't a server opperating system, you can only have one 1 website. If you want more you need to change to a
server opperating system (Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000).
For SSL (https); Once you install a certificate on a Web Site, you can change the SSL port for the site. You have two options for
creating and installing certificates. You can use your own Cetificate Services to generate your certificates or you can use a
trusted third-party authority. When you use Certificate Services, you manage the certificate creation, expiration, and revocation
process. When you create certificates through trusted third-party authorities, you let the trusted authority mangae the certificate
creation, expiration, and revocation process. Either way, the basic tasks you need to preform, create, and install a certificate are
as follows:
1. Create a certificate request. Each web site hosted on your Web server needs a seperate certificate if you want SSL to work
properly. The first step in the certificate creation process is to generate a certificate request. You can generate a certificate
request by completing the following steps.
1. In the IIS snap-in, right click your site and select properties.
2. Fromt he Directory Security tab, select Server Certificate. This starts the Web Server Certificate Wizard. Click Next.
3. Click "Create a new Certificate", Next...
4. Click next again...
5. Next Fill in the certificate name and select a bit length. THe name should be descriptive. The bit legnth sets the
encryption strneght of your public and private keys. In most cases you should select the highest you can. HIT NEXT.
6. Enter your organization information in the fields provided. blah balh
7. Type your computers name, should be there already.
8. Enter the geographic information for you company. hit next! (Dont use abbreviations.)
9. Selcect a spot to store your certificate request file.
10. click next and finish then your done with the request generation process.
Now you have to submit it to a third party Authority such as En-Trust, Equifax, Valicert or Verisign. THe certificat=signing
requerst is stored as ASCII text int he fiel you specified. Most Certificate Authorities (CAs) have you submit the crticiate request
as a part of a formal site registration process. In theis registration process, you'll be asked to submit the rquest file ina n
email or though an online form. WHen using email you simply attqach the requts fiel to the email and send it. WHe using an online
form you must copy the entire text of the file and past it to the form.
After the CA review yoru certificate request the ca will either approce or decline your request. If the CA approvces the rquest
you will recive an email with the signed certificate attached or a notice to visit a location where you can retrieve the signed
certificate. Ther verificat is an ASCII text file that you can view in Notepad, and it can onlyb e decryped with the privat key you
generated perviosly. Once you get all that done, ask me how to install it.
