Certificates

Certificates are a form of digital identification for your server, and for clients requesting information from your server. Their function is similar to that of a passport, or other official identity card, which identifies the person carrying it. Certificates are part of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) features of IIS that establish a secured connection over which sensitive information can be sent.

This section contains:

About Certificates: A conceptual overview of certificates.
Setting Up SSL on Your Server: How to set up and administer Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) on your server.
Using the New Security Task Wizards: A conceptual overview of the features accessible in the Certificate, CTL, and Permissions wizards.
Obtaining a Server Certificate: Learn how to obtain a server certificate needed to use SSL.
Using Certificate Trust Lists: Add new certification authorities to your server's list of trusted issuing authorities.
Obtaining a Client Certificate: How to obtain user digital identifications, called client certificates.
Enabling Client Certificates: A procedure for enabling SSL authentication of client certificates.
Mapping Client Certificates to User Accounts: Use client certificates to connect users directly to Windows user accounts.

This section does not contain information on:

Regulating how users access your Web server files and directories; see Access Control.
Information about setting up or changing encryption; see Encryption.