KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Q290625: HOWTO: Configure SSL in a Windows 2000 IIS 5.0 Test Environment

Article: Q290625
Product(s): Internet Information Server
Version(s): 2.0,5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbDSupport
Last Modified: 24-JUL-2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Internet Information Services version 5.0 
- Microsoft Certificate Services, version 2.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY
=======

This article demonstrates how to quickly set up Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) in a
Windows 2000 Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0 development lab
environment. Microsoft Certificate Server 2.0 can create many different
certificates; this article only covers creation of a standard Web certificate.

This article is divided into four sections:

- Creating a certificate request

- Submitting a certificate request

- Issuing and downloading a certificate

- Installing the certificate and setting up an SSL Web site

MORE INFORMATION
================

Creating a Certificate Request
------------------------------

To create a Web server certificate, follow these steps:

1. Open the Internet Service Manager Microsoft Management Console (MMC). To do
  this, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and
  click Internet Service Manager.

2. Double-click the server name so that you see all of the Web sites.

3. Right-click the Web site where you want to install the certificate, and then
  click Properties.

4. Click the Directory Security tab.

  You see three security methods. The one you will use to create a certificate
  request is Secure Communications.

5. Click Server Certificate. A Certificate Wizard starts. Click Next to
  continue.

6. Select Create a new certificate, and then click Next.

7. Select Prepare the request now, but send it later and click Next.

8. Type a name for your certificate, and choose a bit length. Unless it is
  needed for your lab, do not select the SGC Certificate check box. (For more
  information on SGC certificates, see the note at the end of this section.)
  Click Next to continue.

9. Type your organization name and the organizational unit (for example, company
  name and development department). Click Next.

10. Type either the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or the server name as the
  Common Name. If you are creating a certificate that will be used over the
  Internet, it is preferable to use a FQDN. Click Next.

11. Enter your location information, and then click Next.

12. Type the path and file name to save the certificate information to.

  NOTE: If you enter anything other than the default location and file name, be
  sure to note the name and location you choose, because you will have to
  access this file in later steps.

  Click Next to continue.

13. Verify the information that you have entered, and then click Next to
  complete the process and create the certificate request.

NOTES: Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) certificates are used most often by
financial institutions that require high-encryption connections even when
connecting with international users or browsers that are limited to 40-bit
encryption. When connecting to an international browser (40-bit), an SGC
certificate creates a 128-bit tunnel to allow 128-bit encryption strength. When
the secured connection or session ends, the intermediate certificate tunnel is
closed.

Another attribute of the SGC certificate is that it is strictly domain-specific.
Ordinarily, if the domain name of a certificate does not match the domain of the
Web site, you receive a warning stating this fact and you can choose to continue
or not. A SGC certificate does not give you a warning or offer choices. The
connection fails without explanation.

Submitting a Certificate Request
--------------------------------

To submit a certificate request, follow these steps:

1. Open a browser and go to http://YourWebServerName/certsrv/.

2. Select Request a Certificate, and then click Next.

3. Select Advanced Request, and then click Next.

4. Select the center option, Submit a Certificate Request using a Base64, and
  click Next.

5. Open the request document that you created in the first procedure section,
  "Creating a Certificate Request," in Microsoft Notepad.

6. Select and copy the contents of the document.

  The contents should resemble the content that is displayed in the document
  below.

  -----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
  MIICcjCCAhwCAQAwYjETMBEGA1UEAxMKcm9ic3NlcnZlcjELMAkGA1UECxMCTVMx
  CzAJBgNVBAoTAk1TMREwDwYDVQQHEwhCZWxsZXZ1ZTERMA8GA1UECBMIV2FzaGl0
  b24xCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMFwwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADSwAwSAJBALYK4sYDNQ7h
  LmSfL0qpIvUfY7Ddw7fNCvDp3rM7z4QqoLhA2c8TkyamqWTBsV0WRHIidf/J6mU4
  wN4wrUzJTLUCAwEAAaCCAVMwGgYKKwYBBAGCNw0CAzEMFgo1LjAuMjE5NS4yMDUG
  CisGAQQBgjcCAQ4xJzAlMA4GA1UdDwEB/wQEAwIE8DATBgNVHSUEDDAKBggrBgEF
  BQcDATCB/QYKKwYBBAGCNw0CAjGB7jCB6wIBAR5aAE0AaQBjAHIAbwBzAG8AZgB0
  ACAAUgBTAEEAIABTAEMAaABhAG4AbgBlAGwAIABDAHIAeQBwAHQAbwBnAHIAYQBw
  AGgAaQBjACAAUAByAG8AdgBpAGQAZQByA4GJAGKa0jzBn8fkxScrWsdnU2eUJOMU
  K5Ms87Q+fjP1/pWN3PJnH7x8MBc5isFCjww6YnIjD8c3OfYfjkmWc048ZuGoH7Zo
  D6YNfv/SfAvQmr90eGmKOFFiTD+hl1hM08gu2oxFU7mCvfTQ/2IbXP7KYFGEqaJ6
  wn0Z5yLOByPqblQZAAAAAAAAAAAwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQADQQCgRCWkaXlY2nVa
  tbn6p5miPwWfrbViYo0B62wkuH0f7J0nSGcxMnn/6Q/iLEIsgHqFhox5PWCzIV0J
  tXKPWrBL
  -----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST-------

  NOTE: If you save the document with the default name and location it is
  located at C:\Certreq.txt.

  NOTE: Be sure to select and copy all the content just as shown above.

7. Paste the contents of the document into the Web form's Base64 Encoded
  Certificate Request text box.

8. Under Certificate Template, select Web Server, and then click Submit.

9. If Certificate Server is set to Always Issue the Certificate, you can access
  the certificate immediately. To do so, follow these steps:

  a. Click the top link, Download CA Certificate (do not click Download CA
     Certificate path).

  b. When prompted, select Save this file to disk and save the certificate to
     your desktop or another location that you will remember.

  c. Now, go straight to the fourth procedure in this section, "Installing the
     Certificate and Setting Up an SSL Web Site".

  If Certificate Server is set to Set the certificate request status to pending,
  you will receive a "Certificate Pending" message. To continue, move on to the
  third section, "Issuing and Downloading a Certificate".

NOTE: For more information on configuring certificate issuing policies, see
Appendix A.

Issuing and Downloading a Certificate
-------------------------------------

To issue (that is, authorize) a certificate in Certificate Server, follow these
steps:

1. Open the Certificate Authority (CA) Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
  snap-in. To do this, click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative
  Tools, and then click Certificate Authority.

2. Expand Certificate Authority.

3. Click the Pending Requests folder. Your pending certificate requests appear
  in the right pane.

4. Right-click the pending certificate request (submitted in the third procedure
  described in this article), select All Tasks, and then click Issue.

  NOTE: After you select Issue, the certificate is no longer displayed in this
  window and folder. It now resides in the Issued Certificate folder.

NOTE: For more information on configuring certificate issuing policies, see
Appendix A.

5. After you have issued (and authorized) the certificate, you can return to the
  Certificate Servers Web interface to select and download the certificate. To
  do this, follow these steps:

  a. Go to http://YourWebServerName/certsrv/.

NOTE: You must use lower-case letters when you type "certsrv" (without the
quotation marks). If you do not, you cannot see pending requests.

  b. On the default page, select Check on a pending certificate, and then click
     Next.

  c. Select your pending certificate, then click Next to go to the download
     page.

  d. On the download page, click the top hyperlink, Download CA Certificate (do
     not click Download CA Certificate path).

  e. When prompted, select Save this file to disk and save the certificate to
     your desktop or another location that you will remember.

You have issued and downloaded your certificate.

The next step is installing the certificate and setting up an SSL-encrypted Web
site.

Installing the Certificate and Setting Up an SSL Web Site
---------------------------------------------------------

There are several ways to install and set up an SSL certificate: for example, you
can double-click the certificate and use the Certificate Installation Wizard to
preinstall the certificate, then bind it to the site. This article desmonstrates
how to install the certificate by using the Internet Service Manager MMC through
the Web Server Certificate Wizard.

To install a certificate in Certificate Server, follow these steps:

1. Open the Internet Services Manager and expand the server name so that you can
  view the Web sites.

2. Right-click the Web site that you created the certificate request for, and
  click Properties.

3. Click the Directory Security tab. Under Secure Communications, click Server
  Certificate.

  This opens the Certificate Installation Wizard. Click Next to continue.

4. Select Process the pending request and install the certificate and click
  Next.

5. Type the location of the certificate that you downloaded earlier in section
  three, "Issuing and Downloading a Certificate", then click Next.

  The Wizard displays the Certificate Summary. Verify that the information is
  correct, then click Next to continue.

6. Click Finish to complete the process.

To configure and test the certificate, following these steps:

1. On the Directory Security tab, under Secure Communications, note that there
  are now three available options. To set the Web site to require secure
  connections, click Edit. The Secure Communications dialog box appears.

2. Select Require Secure Channel (SSL), and then click OK.

3. Click Apply and then OK to close the property sheet.

4. Browse to the site and verify that it works:

  a. Access the site through http by typing "http://localhost/Postinfo.html"
     (without the quotation marks) in the browser. You receive an error message
     that resembles the following:

  HTTP 403.4 - Forbidden: SSL required.

  b. Try to browse to the same Web page using a secured connection (https) by
     typing "https://localhost/postinfo.html" (without the quotation marks) in
     the browser.

  c. You may receive a security alert that states that the certificate is not
     from a trusted root CA. Click Yes to continue to the Web page.

     The page should appear.

     NOTE: To learn how to add your root CA to the Trusted Root CA list in your
     browser, see Appendix B.

If you can view the page, you have successfully installed your certificate.

NOTE: The Postinfo.html page is a standard HTML page that is found in the root of
the default Web site.

REFERENCES
==========

Appendix A: How to Change Certificate Issuing Policies:

You can select whether you want to issue a certificate upon request (no
authorization) or whether you want all requests to be submitted for
pre-authorization through the Certificate Authority MMC snap-in. To do this,
follow these steps:

1. Open the Certificate Authority tool. To do this, click Start, point to
  Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Certificate
  Authority.

2. Right-click your certificate authority name and click Properties.

3. In the Properties sheet, click the Policy Module tab and then click
  Configure.

4. In the Default Action tab, select either of the following:

   - Set the certificate request status to pending: The administrator must
     explicitly issue the certificate.

   - Always issue the certificate: This issues the certificate immediately,
     with no authorization required.

NOTE: If a certificate is recognized on the network, you should select the second
option.

Appendix B: Installing a Root CA Certificate into the Trusted Root CA List in Internet Explorer 5:

There are several ways to get the root CA certificate to the Web site users. One
way is to e-mail it and have the users install it from the e-mail. Another way
is to include a download page on your Web site with a link to the certificate. A
corporate-wide solution is to use Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) to
push a customer Internet Explorer browser with the root CA certificate already
installed into the Trusted Root CA list. However you choose to make the
certificate available, one thing stays the same: the way you install the
certificate into the Trusted Root CA list in Internet Explorer, as this appendix
demonstrates.

NOTE: The certificate must be installed in order for Internet Explorer to trust
that your site certificate is not the certificate that you just created but
rather the root CA certificate, which was created when you installed Certificate
Server.

For the purposes of this document, download the certificate by using the
Certificate Servers Web interface, which is located at
http://<YourServerName>/certsrv/. After you have arrived at the Welcome
page, select Retrieve the CA certificate or certificate revocation list, and
then click Next.

You now have two choices:

- Install this CA certification path. If you are installing the root CA
  certificate into the browser you are currently connected with, click the
  Install this CA certification path link, and it automatically installs the
  root CA certificate into the Trusted Root CA list in your Internet Explorer
  browser.

  After the installation is complete, you receive a confirmation page.

-or-

- Download CA certificate. If you need to install the root CA certificate in
  any other Internet Explorer browser's root CA list, you can download it and
  install it as follows:

  1. Click Download CA certificate.

  2. Select Save the file to disk.

  3. Go to the location where you saved the root CA certificate, and
     double-click the certificate to open the Properties sheet for that
     certificate.

  4. Click Install Certificate to start the Certificate Import Wizard. Click
     Next to continue.

  5. Select Place all certificates in the following store.

  6. Click Browse and select Trusted Root Certification Authorities. Click
     Next.

  7. Verify the settings and then click Finish.

     You receive the following message:

  The import was successful.

  8. Click OK to dismiss this message, and then click OK to close the
     Properties sheet.

To check if you get the trusted root CA warning again, close and reopen your
browser, and then go to the following Web site:

  https://<MySecureWebsite>/Postinfo.html

You have successfully added your root CA to the Trusted Root CA list in your
Internet Explorer browser.

NOTE: The Postinfo.html page is a standard HTML page that is found in the root of
the default Web site.

Appendix C: Additional Information on Using Certificates with IIS 5.0:

  Q232136 HOW TO: Back Up a Server Certificate in Internet Information Services
  5.0

Summary: When you use Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0, you may want to
back up your server certificates. Windows 2000 makes this process easy using the
new Certificates snap-in.

  Q232137 How to Import a Server Certificate for Use in Internet Information
  Services 5.0

Summary: When you use Internet Information Services (IIS) version 5.0, you may
want to restore a server certificate, for example, if you are migrating one Web
site to another server in a Web farm. This task is very easy to do using the Web
Site Certificate Wizard and the Certificate Manager Import Wizard provided to
you by Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0.

  Q248107 Creating Server Certificates Using Certificate Services Web

Summary: When you enable secure communications (SSL and Transport Layer Security
(TLS)) on an Internet Information Services 5.0 computer, you must first obtain a
server certificate. With the integration of certificates in Windows 2000 and the
new additions to IIS 5.0, there are several ways to obtain a server
certificate.

  Q227888 Importing a Key Backup File to Use in Internet Information Services
  5.0

Summary: After you install Internet Information Services 5.0, you may want to
import a backup key file from an older version of Internet Information Server.
This allows you to use the SSL capabilities on your new server (and replace the
old one).


Additional query words: iis5 iis 5 setup developer lab

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbDSupport 
Technology        : kbiisSearch kbiis500 kbCertServSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbCertServ200
Version           : :2.0,5.0
Issue type        : kbinfo

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1986-2002.