FP97: How to Use Secure Sockets Layer to Secure Pages in Your Web

ID: q174424

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft FrontPage 97 for Windows with Bonus Pack

SUMMARY

When you create a new FrontPage Web, you can select the Secure Connection Required option. When you select this option, the entire Web will use the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) port to encrypt all data sent to or from FrontPage. This is called secure authoring. You can also specify whether you want to use the SSL port for links to specific pages within a normal, unsecured Web. This is called secure browsing. This article describes how to accomplish both secure authoring and secure browsing.


MORE INFORMATION

Secure Authoring

To use SSL for secure authoring, follow these steps:
  1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click FrontPage Web.


  2. In the New FrontPage Web dialog box, click Change.


  3. In the Change Location dialog box, type the name of the new FrontPage Web, and click to select the "Secure connection required (SSL)" check box.


  4. Click OK.


  5. Click OK again.


SSL provides a highly secure (encrypted and authenticated) communication between the client and the server, based on public-key cryptography. To send a secure message, the sender encrypts the message with the recipient's public key, and the recipient decrypts the message with the recipient's private key. Since only the recipient has the private key that can decrypt the message, the message is secure.

To guarantee authenticity, a certificate accompanies the public key. A certificate is a digital signature on a digest of the friendly (human readable) name of the participant, together with the participant's public key. The certificate is encrypted with the private key of the certifying authority. To check the authenticity of the public key of the participant, anyone can compute the digest of the friendly name and public key for that participant and can decrypt the certificate for that public key using the public key of the certifying authority, and check that the same digest results.

NOTE: FrontPage 97 does not support 128-bit encryption; only 40-bit encryption.

For additional information about the use of security certificates with FrontPage, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q171675 FP: Socket Code 13101 Error Opening, Creating New Web

Secure Browsing

If you want to require that SSL be used to browse some of your pages, you can mix ports on a single Web by using a fully qualified Uniform Resource Locator (URL), such as http://example.microsoft.com/default.htm.

Web servers use a separate port for SSL connections. Instead of linking to
default.htm
they link to
https://example.microsoft.com/default.htm
and go from the default port (usually 80) to the SSL port (usually 443). To go from the SSL port to port 80, link to
http://example.microsoft.com/default.htm
To create a SSL link from a page in your Web for secure browsing, follow these steps:
  1. In FrontPage Editor, select the text you want to use for your hyperlink.


  2. On the Edit menu, click Hyperlink.


  3. In the URL box change http:// to https:// and type the complete URL of your page. For example, type the following:
    https://example.microsoft.com/default.htm


  4. Click OK.


For additional information about security features and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q142868 IIS: Authentication & Security Features

Additional query words: front page

Keywords : kbinterop kbnetwork kbdta fpext
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


Last Reviewed: September 8, 1999
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