Currently I'm developing an ASP.NET web site with Developer Express' XAF Framework. To encrypt the data communication, I assigned a self-signed SSL certificate to the web site in IIS.
Assign self-signed SSL certificate in IIS
- Download IIS 6.0 Resource Kit;
- Run selfssl.exe /N:CN=<name> /K:1024 /K:1024 /V:7 /S:1 /P:443 where the 1 matches with the site identifier in IIS ( you can see the site identifier by opening IIS Manager, Click on the Web Sites node and read the Identifier column from the List View.
A self-signed certificate is signed by its own creator. Because of this, the certificate is not trusted by web browsers. Users can continue, but have to bypass a security message.
For testing purposes, this security message can be annoying. You can fix this by trusting your own certificate. Do this only on your own box and buy a trusted certificate for production use.
Trust your own certificate in IE 7
- Click on Continue to this website (not recommended)
- Click on Certificate Error in the red colored address bar
- Click on View certificates
- In the Certificate dialog, press Install Certificate
- In the Certificate Import Wizard, click Next
- On page 2 of the wizard, select Place all certificates in the following store and click Browse;
- In the Select Certificate Store dialog, select Trusted Root Certification Authorities, click OK
- In the wizard, click Next, click Finish
- If a security message pops up, choose Yes
Trust your own certificate in Firefox
This is much easier. Visit the web site and select 'Permanently accept this certificate' when Firefox pops up a window.
And you're done. Hope this helps,