Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
Core Business Services

Application network security using SSL

OpenEdge supports data privacy and client/server authentication over connections between OpenEdge clients, servers, and middleware using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This SSL support works at two levels of networking:

Secure Internet access — Using OpenEdge middleware and third-party Web servers or Java Servlet Engines (JSEs) to secure Internet connections between an OpenEdge client and server component using HTTPS (HTTP tunneled through SSL).
Secure intranet access — Securing direct connections between OpenEdge client, middleware, and server components using an OpenEdge implementation of SSL (TCP/IP tunneled through SSL).

Depending on the OpenEdge components involved, Internet and intranet SSL can be used alone or together to provide combinations of security options for certain OpenEdge client and server connections.

As you might know or have surmised from the basic functionality provided by this security option (data privacy and client/server authentication), SSL fundamentally relies on various forms of data cryptography that are specially organized to provide this connection security. To help understand the scope and impact of using SSL with OpenEdge, this manual describes this security option at several levels starting with the technical foundations and basic terminology required to understand and describe SSL itself as well as its role in OpenEdge.

Thus, for information on:

The foundation technologies and terminology for SSL, see Chapter 5, " Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI)."
The features and functions of SSL, see Chapter 5, " Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI)."
How OpenEdge uses SSL to secure its client, server, and middleware components, and how to configure these components to use SSL, see Chapter 6, " Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)."
How to prepare the OpenEdge platform environment to use SSL, see the sections on managing OpenEdge key and certificate stores in OpenEdge Getting Started: Installation and Configuration .

Caution: SSL in OpenEdge can provide significant, though not perfect, security for Internet and intranet connections. Also be aware that any use of SSL can have significant negative impact on application performance. So, be sure that you need the security that SSL provides before designing and building it into your applications.