SSL setup

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Posted by Maldiv_f, 04-08-2008, 05:21 AM
Hello, I have no experience in this topic but I need a secure connection with SSL. I made some research but not everything is clear. I need a dedicated IP to make SSL possible. Do I need an SSL certificate as well or it is only important to make the customers happy? Does SSL works without certificate? I ask it because some company charge money for the SSL/month and pluss charge money for certificate/year. What does it mean if the certificate is outdated? The SSL connection works fine, isn't it? I ask it strictly technicaly. What else do I need? Thanks in advance!
Posted by Patrick, 04-08-2008, 09:18 AM
That is correct. Having an SSL certificate is very important if you are conducting business or requesting user information from your customers. You have two options, a self-signed certificate and purchasing an SSL certificate from an accredited provider. A self signed certificate is something anyone can create and there is no control over them. Almost all browsers will produce an error message by default when trying to use a self signed SSL certificate, which is a definite turn off for customers. If you purchase an SSL certificate from a company, such as RapidSSL (http://www.namecheap.com - $14) when the SSL connection is used no warnings or pop-ups will be displayed to the end user because RapidSSL (Equifax) are an accredited provider. When the certificate is outdated, a warning or pop-up will be displayed on the customers browser. The connection will still be encrypted, but it's best if you renew it.
Posted by Dave Parish, 04-08-2008, 09:23 AM
i think rapid ssl is the best also
Posted by Maldiv_f, 04-08-2008, 01:07 PM
Thanks for the detailed answer! One more thing come to my mind. If I have a reseller account then can I purchase SSL certificate from any provider or I need to use what my hosting provider offer? Can I setup an SSL completly without the help/interaction of my hosting provider? (Suppose I have a static IP.)
Posted by Ben James, 04-08-2008, 01:09 PM
You can get one from anyone selling them , but you may need to get your provider to install it for you.
Posted by Panopta, 04-08-2008, 02:15 PM
That depends on what type of hosting you have - if it's a shared hosting account you'll need your hosting provider to install it. If it's a VPS or dedicated where you have administrative access, you can install it yourself. Your SSL provider should give you instructions for how to install on all the common web servers.
Posted by Steve_Arm, 04-08-2008, 03:40 PM
Plus you need to make sure that the common name for the certificate is exactly the same with the domain name pointing to the site or users will get a warning. Example if the secure site is https://secure.domain.com the CN for the certificate should be secure.domain.com.
Posted by Ben James, 04-08-2008, 03:46 PM
Unless you got a wilcard ssl certificate that works with all subdomains and the root domain

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