Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Using SSL Certificates

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption preserves user and content integrity and confidentiality so that communications between a client and the web server, containing sensitive data such as passwords or credit card information, are protected. SSL is based on the public key infrastructure (PKI, X.509) security standards that protect communication by encrypting data before being transmitted.

Earlier versions of IIS supported SSL, and IIS 8 is no different. IIS 8, however, introduces significant improvements to the use of SSL for securing websites, especially when it comes to scalability.

The use of certificates with IIS can serve three primary purposes, although they are typically used to encrypt connections:

• SSL server ...