SSL and Certificates in SQL Server 2008 R2

  • Good Morning Folks,

    I am a bit confused by certificates and SSL in SQL Server.

    Are they one and the same thing?

    For example one can create a certificate in sql server using CREATE CERTIFICATE ... WITH ENCRYPTION/FILE=

    Is that the same as installing an SSL certificate?

    To me it looks like not! But also not sure how the two co-exist?

    Any help, as always is appreciated.

    Cheers

    Alex

  • alex.sqldba (12/9/2014)


    Good Morning Folks,

    I am a bit confused by certificates and SSL in SQL Server.

    Are they one and the same thing?

    For example one can create a certificate in sql server using CREATE CERTIFICATE ... WITH ENCRYPTION/FILE=

    Is that the same as installing an SSL certificate?

    To me it looks like not! But also not sure how the two co-exist?

    Any help, as always is appreciated.

    Cheers

    Alex

    They are separate things altogether. SSL is a secure transport layer, data is encrypted and secured over the communication channel.

    This is done using various different security mediums, the most common being a certificate, whether it is from a trusted source or self signed. Certsd are used for encrypting various traffic such as SQL Server, exchange outlook web access, secure websites.

    A certificate uses a public and private key for the encryption handshake, more can be found here

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • Excellent. Cheers Perry, that's what I wanted to know.

    So, if I enable SSL (with a self signed cert) on ServerA, that cert also needs to be installed on any client or server that wants to conenct and work with serverA?

    What happens if that Cert is not available - connection refused?

    Alex

  • Also, is it possible to force only a specific connecting host or hosts to use a certificate, where as everything else doesn't so like a whitelist or a blacklist?

    cheers

    Alex

  • the certificate is applied and the encryption is enabled in sql server configuration manager instance wide. The certificate is stored in the machines local store.

    If you want to use policy based encryption you'll need to look at IPSec

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

  • Thanks guys, we're all sorted here now!

  • what did you do in the end?

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    "Ya can't make an omelette without breaking just a few eggs" 😉

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