Client-side certificates
What is a Client-side certificate
Client-side certificate authentication enables a client to use a client-side digital certificate to request an authenticated access to a specific service.
When a user requests access to a resource over SSL, the web server provides its server-certificate, which allows the client to establish an SSL session. Then the client is asked for a client-side certificate. If the client presents a valid client-side certificate, the server allows the SSL session to continue otherwise in most cases the access to the resource is denied. This authentication method provides additional level of security for client identity verification.
How to use it with WebSitePulse
To monitor a website requiring client-side certificate authentication you should provide us with a valid client certificate, the relevant passwords and specify the domains which this certificate should be used with. The certificate itself should be provided in PEM or PKCS#12 format.
Once provided, the setup of the certificate usually takes up to 24 hours. A notification will be sent to the requesting user and the admin of the account, after which you will be able to configure your targets without any additional parameters.
To avoid false alerts and service interruptions you should send us a new certificate at least 24 hours before the old certificate expires.
Similar topics
Knowledge base
- HTTP Status Codes - 1xx
- Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) DNS records
- Protocol and Content related alerts
- HTTP Status Codes - 2xx
- Monitor SSL/TLS enabled servers
Howtos
Glossary
- CRAM-MD5 SMTP authentication
- SOAP / Simple Object Access Protocol
- NNTP / Network News Transfer Protocol
- TLS / Transport Layer Security
- Kerberos
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to download and install client software on my website to use your monitoring service?
- Do you monitor free space in /var or zombies?