How to enable HTTPS on a Windows server

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and is the underlying technology that enables a website to use the HTTPS protocol. Why is this important? A website with an HTTPS URL provides website visitors with a secure connection for private transactions. It is essential for any type of online sales or exchange of private data.

Windows 2008 server relies on IIS to serve websites to users, and in order to configure a Windows server for SSL, you need to enable it in IIS.

“The implementation of SSL has changed from IIS 6.0 to IIS 7.0.  On Windows Server 2003, all SSL configuration was stored in the IIS metabase and encryption/decryption happened in user mode (required a lot of kernel/user mode transitions).  On Windows Vista and Windows Server® 2008, HTTP.sys handles SSL encryption/decryption in kernel mode, resulting in up to 20% better performance for secure connections.  “

Read the rest at Learn IIS

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