asp.net: how to use ssl certificate

Question

I created ssl certificate using IIS 5.1 and generated a file certreq.txt. Now what is the next step to use this file. I am a developer and working on a site that is host on my local machine. Is is necessary to get license from any CA?

Please guide me ASAP.

Answer 1

You can either self sign the certificate or send it to the CA to avoid the do-not-trust this site prompt. SSLTools Manager is a nifty app that can send your csr to a CA. Not sure about the self-signing feature though.

Answer 2

The certificate generated from IIS, is a self-signed certificate, which can be used to test your website. However, if you run a public website from a self-signed certificate, every user will get a warning that the site is not safe. You will eventually need to get a license from a CA when you are ready to publish your site. Your domain host should provide an SSL certificate service, for something like $50-150/yr.

Answer 3

You can create a self-signed cert, but that will not be very elegant for end users if this is a public website as there is the prompt about cert validity. Otherwise, yes you need to obtain a cert from a CA. I find the best is Verisign, although DEFINITELY not the cheapest. Others are Godaddy, CheapDomain, and pretty much any registrar can help with it.

The link is for 5.1, but you can find tutorials on all versions. For testing I would go the self signed route.