Geeky Bob

In this last appendix for my blog series about using SSL with IIS 6, I'll discuss processing a certificate request by using Windows 2003 Certificate Services. When you are running a certificate server for your network environment, you will need to physically issue the certificates that clients will request from your certificate server. There is a way that you can configure certificate services to automatically issue certificates, but I'd advise against that, unless you are only issuing certificates for testing purposes. If so, then you should read the Set the default action upon receipt of a certificate request topic on Microsoft's TechNet website.

That being said, the procedure to approve and issue a certificate is relatively easy; to do so, use the following steps:

1. Open the "Certificate Authority" administrative tool:

2. Click on "Pending Requests":

   

3. Right-click the pending request and choose "All Tasks", then click "Issue":

   

4. The certificate will now show up under "Issued Certificates":

   

That wraps up the last post in this blog series about using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) with IIS 6.0, as well as some related information about using Windows 2003 Certificate Services. I hope this information helps administrators that have yet to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. ;-]

Note: This blog was originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/robert_mcmurray/