Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Resource Kit

Securing Office Communications Server with PKI

Because Office Communications Server 2007 R2 leverages certificates to enforce the strong authentication of servers, it is important for administrators to understand how Office Communications Server uses certificates. Certificates are digital equivalents to a driver’s license or a passport. Their purpose is to authoritatively identify an entity—in this case, a server. Similar to a driver’s license and passport, which identify your height, weight, hair and eye color, and so on, the digital certificate provides specific properties that identify the server.

Every certificate is tied to a public key. Any information encrypted with this public key can be decrypted only by the holder of the corresponding ...