Setting Security Preferences
Chapter
5
Securing Your Enterprise Server
105
Setting Security Preferences
Once you have a certificate, you can begin securing your server. Several security
elements are provided by Enterprise Server.
Encryption is the process of transforming information so it is unintelligible to
anyone but the intended recipient. Decryption is the process of transforming
encrypted information so that it is intelligible again. Enterprise Server 6.0 includes
supports SSL and TLS encryption protocols.
A cipher is a cryptographic algorithm (a mathematical function), used for
encryption or decryption. SSL and TLS protocols contain numerous cipher suites.
Some ciphers are stronger and more secure than others. Generally speaking, the
more bits a cipher uses, the harder it is to decrypt the data.
In any two-way encryption process, both parties must use the same ciphers.
Because a number of ciphers are available, you need to enable your server for those
most commonly used.
During a secure connection, the client and the server agree to use the strongest
cipher they can both have for communication. You can choose ciphers from the
SSL2, SSL3, and TLS protocols.
The encryption process alone isn’t enough to secure your server’s confidential
information. A key must be used with the encrypting cipher to produce the actual
encrypted result, or to decrypt previously encrypted information. The encryption
process uses two keys to achieve this result: a public key and a private key.
Information encrypted with a public key can be decrypted only with the associated
private key. The public key is published as part of a certificate; only the associated
private key is safeguarded.
For description of the various cipher suites, and more information about keys and
certificates, see Managing Servers with Netscape Console.
To specify which ciphers your server can use, check them in the list. Unless you
have a compelling reason not to use a specific cipher, you should check them all.
However, you may not wish to enabling ciphers with less than optimal encryption.
NOTE
Improvements to security and performance were made after SSL
version 2.0; you should not use SSL 2 unless you have clients that
are not capable of using SSL 3. Client certificates are not guaranteed
to work with SSL 2 ciphers.
Summary of Contents for NETSCAPE ENTREPRISE SERVER 6.0 - ADMINISTRATOR
Page 1: ...Administrator s Guide Netscape Enterprise Server Version6 0 November 2001...
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Page 414: ...Posting to JSPs 414 Netscape Enterprise Server Administrator s Guide November 2001...
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