Web Server

The Web Server is the mechanism for serving websites. There are two types of websites: normal and secure. Secure websites utilize SSL encryption to provide security for sensitive applications such as e-commerce. Normal websites are simply sites that do not utilize SSL.

Secure websites require two things: a certificate and a key. It can be thought of in the following context:

• the certificate is what verifies your identity (authentication)
• the key is what provides the security (encryption)

The certificate and key are also tightly tied into each other; they are a matching pair.

The first time a user connects to a secure site, their browser will store the certificate. Every subsequent time the user connects to the site it verifies that the certificate is the same to ensure a secure connection. This provides the encryption portion of the process.

For more information on certificates please refer to the full User Guide.