SoluComp offers SSL (Secure Socket Layer) capability/access which allows your website to open a secure encrypted connection to a payment gateway. To perform business transactions or secure encryptions from your own domain name, you are responsible to purchase your own SSL certificate and request merchant status and payment transaction from a third party. We offer two alternatives for you to purchase a valid SSL certificate.

As a Geotrust partner www.geotrust.com, Cephren can assist you in planning/purchasing/installing SSL certificates for your website at highly competitive prices. For the latest prices on SSL certificates please contact us

Thawte also provides SSL certificates which are compatible with our systems. Please visit their site at www.thawte.com If you are planning to purchase a certificate from them, please remember to place in "solucomp" as the partner code in order to receive faster service.

Terms and Definitions

What is a Secure Socket Layer (SSL)?
What is an SSL certificate?
Where can I purchase a SSL certificate?
What is the difference between Verisign, Thawte and Equifax?
Which SSL certificate does SoluComp recommend?
How much does SoluComp charge for an SSL certificate installation?
Requesting a private key and a CSR.
Can I move my SSL from another host to your servers?
I have an SSL certificate for www.mydomain.com but I also have domain called www.mydomain2.com pointed to the site. Whenever someone uses the second host name, the SSL certificate does not work. Why doesnt it work?
Is there a shared SSL certificate I can use for my site?
I have an SSL certificate. How do I get the lock to appear in Netscape?
Should I use SSL on my entire site?
Using Frontpage with SSL

What is a Secure Socket Layer (SSL)?

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a system that allows for a private connection when communicating with other SSL-enabled products. It is symmetric encryption nested within public-key encryption and authenticated through the use of certificates. An SSL connection can only occur between an SSL-enabled client and an SSL-enabled server.

What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL certificate is a digital certificate signed by an independent and trusted third party. It is a "key" file that sets the encryption between SoluComp servers and the browser and can be purchased from a Certificate Provider such as Thawte or Equifax.

Where can I purchase a SSL Certificate?

You can purchase a SSL certificate at the following places:

http://www.thawte.com
http://www.entrust.net

What is the difference between Verisign, Thawte and Entrust Technologies?

The major difference between the 3 is the cost.

Which SSL certificate does SoluComp recommend?

At Cephren Communications Inc. we support either Verisign, Thawte or Entrust.

How much does SoluComp charge for an SSL certificate installation?

We do not charge anything to install an SSL certificate. Each of the certificate providers mentioned above have their own yearly fees for use of the certificate.

Requesting a private key and a CSR.

To request for a private key and CSR for purchasing a SSL certificate, you must first of all have an exisiting hosting package with SSL enabled with our company. ii. contact us our Network Department and request for a private key and csr. An Administrator will contact you shortly with a questionnaire that is mandatory to complete.

Can I move my SSL from another host to your servers?

If you are moving from an IIS server to ours, there is a chance that you can move the SSL over. Ask the administrator of your current server to export the certificate for you. Then send us the file and we can try to import it into our servers, although we can not guarantee it will work. If you have a UNIX account, the chances are that you will need to apply for a new SSL certificate.

I have an SSL certificate for www.mydomain.com but I also have www2.mydomain.com pointed to the site. Whenever someone uses the www2 host name, the SSL certificate does not work. Why?

This is because an SSL certificate is tied to the exact domain name used in the URL. If you use www.yourdomain.com for the SSL certificate, it will ONLY work if the URL that is requested is www.yourdomain.com. It will not work if it is called yourdomain.com or www2.yourdomain.com. If you also wish to have people access the site securely using a second hostname/domain name combination, you must purchase a second SSL certificate.

Is there a shared SSL certificate I can use for my site?

For security and liability reasons, SoluComp does not provide and endorse this feature. Every customer needs to have their own SSL certificate.

I have an SSL certificate. How do I get the lock to appear in Netscape?

Inorder to achieve this, you must change the URL of the page you are accessing to https://. This is what triggers the browser into entering "SSL mode."

Should I use SSL on my entire site?

You could but we do not recommend it. SSL is a very server intensive process. This will slow down your site tremendously especially as user traffic increases. You really only need to protect form pages that you feel are passing information that is highly sensitive between the server and the browser.

Using Front Page with SSL

Using secure forms with front page and a shared certificate can cause problems. While we've found this to work sporadically it most often doesn't. If you want to use secure forms with front page you will have to purchase your own certificate.

http://developer.netscape.com/quickfind.cgi?cp=dev01qfin
http://developer.netscape.com/tech/security/ssl/howitworks.html