question about ssl security certificates

[ZippyDan]

i setup an https ssl connection for a small company. used win 2k3 server to create a "temporary" self signed certificate to get the connection working. win2k3 claims the certificate will expire in 30 days. what happens then? do i have to keep recreating the rootcer.cer and redistributing it to all the client computers every 30 days?

this is a small operation right now with a limited number of clients. ideally id like to set up all the clients so that they can connect without seeing any warnings (they dont now that ive added the site to their exception lists) AND not have to re-setup all the clients every 30 days AND not have to pay the ridiculous CA licencing fees. is this possible?


Moved from Software For Windows to Security.

AnandTech Moderator
mechBgon

 

[WobbleWobble]

For the first 30 days, they would get a warning saying that the cert isn't signed by a CA. After the 30 days is up, along with the self-signed cert warning, it would also say the cert has expired. The self-signed cert should continue to work though.

 

[ZippyDan]

thanks for the quick reply. i only got the nonCA warning the first time i accessed the site from each computer. now my browsers know to trust the site regardless. after the 30 day "expiration" will i be able to similarly "disable" or "auto-ignore" this new warning? i dont want the user to see any negative warnings in normal use from a setup client (except of course for the very first time after expiration)

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: ZippyDan
thanks for the quick reply. i only got the nonCA warning the first time i accessed the site from each computer. now my browsers know to trust the site regardless. after the 30 day "expiration" will i be able to similarly "disable" or "auto-ignore" this new warning? i dont want the user to see any negative warnings in normal use from a setup client (except of course for the very first time after expiration)

The cert will be expired and users will get a warning. You need to create a non-expiring self signed cert (or get a commercial ssl cert)