On Windows Server 2003, IIS 6, there is a simple way to setup a free SSL Certificate (Self-Signed Certificate SSL Certificate) in order to test your web application (Facebook apps, secure e-commerce site or posting across HTTP/HTTPS, etc) on development environment instead registering or buying a valid SSL Certificate.
First, you need to download and install Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Resource Kit Tools (iis60rkt.exe) on Microsoft Download Center via: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17275. In scope of the tutorial, I just talk about the SelfSSL which is a command line executable tool that you can use to generate and install a self-signed SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate for IIS (Internet Information Services) 6.0.
Open SelfSSL Command Line Tool
Create a SSL Certificate
After installed the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools, go to Start => Programs => IIS Resources => SelfSSL => SelfSSL to open the SelfSSL command line tool:
Create Free SSL Certificate With SelfSSL
There is an instruction that helps to create a SSL Certificate for a particular site:
selfssl.exe /N:CN=common_name_of_the_certificate /K:1204 /V:7 /S:1 /P:443 |
For example, you want to create and assign a SSL Certificate for a site (let’s say 4rapiddev.com) with site id: 5, will be expired in 365 days, key length 2048 on port 8443, let’s type command below in the SelfSSL command window:
selfssl.exe /N:CN=4rapiddevSelfSSL /K:2048 /V:365 /S:5 /P:8443 |
Note:
- 1. ID of website can be identified by Identifier column on the right panel in the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager when click on the Web Sites on the left panel.
- 2. If you can not browse the site on port 8443 or a particular port you set, try to adjust the Window Firewall.
- 3. You still receive un trust warning message as it’s just testing purpose.
- 4. The testing SSL Certificate MUST NOT be applied on production environment.
