Question

Friends I want to know for when a secured hosting is done, we require an unique ip address to associate our SSL Certificate to it. Also, I kinda read in one tutorial that when a browser requests for a secured conncetion then all the SSL process initiates. But how does a browser request for a secure connection. Don’t we just write http://www.chase.com? And then our browser converts the http to https? Whats happening in the background?

Answer 1

Step by step (Assuming HSTS header is not active in which it will automatically use https without making a http request):

1. The client types http://www.example.com in the address bar
2. The browser assumes HTTP protocol and sends a GET call to http://www.example.com

3. http://www.example.com responds with a moved status code and gives the new location:

   HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
   Location: https://www.example.com/

4. The browser reads that and knows that it must start a Secure HTTPS connection.

5. …and so on. This is where things get more complicated because the browser and the server exchange multiple messages until the secure connection is established.

Anyway, if what you need is to install an SSL / TLS certificate you must make sure that your client is redirected from HTTP to HTTPS. That should be accomplished from the server configurations.