Basic Troubleshooting For People Using SSL Certs

SSL, or secure server layer connections are so ubiquitous that few people even give them a second thought. However, on account of this, most users are at a loss when the occasional problem does arise. Here, I have compiled a brief list of some of the most common issues that beset SSL users. An SSL scuffle is a commonly reported problem that occurs when the first notice the user gets that their SSL subscription has expired is a flood of complaints in the form of error messages from users and clients. Of course, the only person to blame for this is the user. The end date of the subscription is clearly made available to anyone purchasing an SSL cert subscription at the time of purchase. This commonly happens when there is no designated individual responsible for keeping such things current, as often happens in small organisations. A good way to avoid this is setting the expiration date on your digital calendar so as to be reminded a few days before. Another frequent issue is a domain name mismatch. It occurs when the site name you registered with your SSL subscription is not exactly the same as the one posted on a link to your site. What happens is that when a client tries to access through the mismatched link is an error message, HTTP 301 redirect to "sitename.com". The way to avoid this issue is to ensure that all links back to your site are posted in the exact spelling as the site name given your SSL cert provider. One of the most challenging issues comes through Intermediate SSL Certificates. For most Certificate authorities, it is required that they use the Intermediate SSL Certificates. These protect your root certificate authority key. They also permit companies that have not yet obtained their own root certificates to get within your browser to sell SSL certificates. The thing is that each content authority uses different intermediate certificates, therefore it is essential to pick the right one in order for your SSL cert to work properly. In addition to these issues, there is an SSL diagnostics utility that troubles shoots your SSL software. It is available for free off of Microsoft's web site. This tool is great for verifying if there is a problem with your certificate as it can generate a temporary certificate for the purpose of the trouble shooting, so if your SSL works with the temporary certificate, you then know for sure that the problem was with your old certificate. The diagnostic is also useful for seeing if the problem is caused by client certificates by using a tool called the client certificate monitor. With all of these options at your disposal, you should be well equipped to handle any SSL cert issues you may run into.

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