A painless and quick guide to installing SSL Certificates
Secure Sockets Layer certificates, or SSL certificates, are industry standard when it comes to protecting transmitted information over the Internet. SSL certificates will encrypt all data transmitted by themselves between the client of the site and the server computers. When the server and browser are properly configured, a secure connection is automatically established; the user does not have to take any steps to set up protection. To provide a client with the most secure service, it ‘s important to get an SSL certificate and configure the web server to use it. This article covers Microsoft Internet Information Services installing SSL certificates.
The most important things to install are an SSL certificate, a server requirement and a dedicated IP address. The server needs to have the ability to secure connections. With regard to dedicated IP address, otherwise SSL certificates can not be enabled on a shared IP unless and until the certificate is exchanged.
Of course the first step is to obtain the certificate. There are a number of certificate authorities or CAs for this very purpose. Often the website administrator can directly obtain the certificate, or the web host can provide that service. Once the file has been created and obtained, simply open the file containing the certificate and save it with the new name “Your Web Site.cer” to the appropriate server. Select “Start > Administrator Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager” and then left-click on the server name.
Upon completion of the above steps, navigate to the server menu “Security” section. Select the menu button for “Domain Certificates.” Left-click on the menu option “Complete Certificate Request,” which starts the Certificate Wizard. When downloading the certificate the wizard does much of the job. Select the.cer file saved to the server from the earlier steps when prompted, and enter an alias name referring to the server-located certificate. Finally, to install the certificate onto the server, press the “OK” button.
If you do anything according to the above steps right, then it should work without any errors. If you get errors or alerts of any kind, you can contact your server administrator for assistance.
An SSL certificate is an essential part of any website, in particular one which requires safe data transmission. While SSL certificates are important, installation is not a process which is particularly user friendly. To complete these steps, use the web host and the website administrator and host a safe and stable website.