SSL Setup Question

Hi All,

I have been, for some time now, trying to help a friend setup ssl on his windows 2000 web server. The way he and I want ssl setup is to allow each client we have on the web server to decide whether or not to secure a page by changing a link from http to https. Obviously we would need a cert. for each client to do this. We do not want to force ssl to a site or folder.

My question: I have seen thousands of pages on how to setup ssl and force a site to use port 443 or https. What changes in the setup steps do we need to make in order to allow both http and https requests for the same domain?

Server info:

Windows 2000 advance server
IIS 5
Not using virtual directory
Registered and has a free trial test cert.


For some reason this information seems to be a closely guarded secret. I have not been able to find this information on Microsoft's website or any other website. Other developers that I know have ssl setup this way doesn’t seem to want to point me in the right direction. What should be a simple task is turning into a nightmare! Any help from someone that has actually done this would be helpful.

I'm not sure you will be able to do what you want, but then I know very little about ssl on IIS.

www.iisfaqs.com is one IIS resource site that may have some help.

Thanks Doug,

I have not tried that site yet. I see this done on several sites but have not been able to get anyone to explain what they did and what the limitations are.

There must be some IIS/SSL help sites out there. For myself, I just use my ISP's ssl domain when necessary, I haven't had the pleasure of installing my own server cert.

Perhaps someone who has gone through the steps can jump in.