A server certificate is used to encrypt and secure the data which transfers between the server and the clients connected to it via any application. It could be possible that people connect to any server via their laptops, desktops or smart mobile phones thus using a certificate of authentication enables security on this connection. For example you connect to your bank server using your mobile phone. What if the connection is not secure any body can sniff the data being transferred between your phone and the Bank server. In order to reduce the risks of such threats the server certificates are used and one has to have one certificate before he or she could communicate with a secure server. There are many certificate companies and if you wish you can buy a certificate for your server from them or if you have to use this certificate on a Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 then you can create the same yourself. Such certificates can be created using the built in tool called as Configure Email and Internet Connections in the Microsoft Small Business Server 2003. Over here we will describe the method to create a certificate for your SBS server 2003 in detail.
To start with the creation of certificate, open the Start menu and then click on Server Management. This will open the Server Management Console in front of you. In this console click on Internet and Email option in the tree and then click on Connect to the Internet in the details section of the window. This will invoke the Configure Email and Internet Connections Wizard. In the first screen which appears click on next and then click on Do not change connection type option. After putting a check mark for this option click on Next to continue. In the next page of the wizard click to select Do not change firewall configuration. Again after selecting this option click on Next. In the next screen you would need to confirm that the desired network services are checked and then click on Next. Here in this page again confirm that the desired web services are selected and then click on Next. Now the screen which will appear will actually create the certificate for you. In this screen click on Create a new Web Server Certificate. Now type the full domain name of your domain and the domain name text box and click on the Next button (Please note that the domain name should be complete and should include http or www whichever you use for connecting to the domain). Further on the next screen select Do not change Internet Email configuration and click on Next. In the last screen click on Finish and the wizard will exit creating the required certificate for you for connecting to your Microsoft SBS over a secure connection. Now whoever will try to connect to your SBS server would require to download, and install the certificate before he/she could connect to the server. This will create a secure environment for data communication between your sever and your users computer.
