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Alex
Alex

Reputation: 77349

When does HTTPS handshake take place?

I understand from various sources that the HTTPS handshake is the heaviest part of using HTTPS. I'm using POSTs internally between my servers to communicate information and would like to use HTTPS for it. I wondered how long the actual HTTPS handshake lasts/"stays open"? Is it re-done for each POST I'm sending to a server, or what is the lifetime?

Upvotes: 9

Views: 10840

Answers (3)

raymi
raymi

Reputation: 1962

The SSL handshake is only done at the beginning of a session and is mainly about generating a shared session key that is used to encrypt all later traffic.

You can find a very good description of the handshake here.

Upvotes: 12

slikts
slikts

Reputation: 8158

I don't know the particulars, but I'm sure the handshake is supposed to occur only when the session is started. It would be too expensive otherwise.

Edit: Here's a nice description of the process.

Upvotes: 0

developmentalinsanity
developmentalinsanity

Reputation: 6249

I believe the handshake occurs on connection (ie, as part of the SSL negotiation). It you use HTTP keep-alive connections then the handshake only occurs once as long as the connection is active.

Upvotes: 2

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