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Security and TLS/SSL

This section covers essential security practices for system administrators, focusing on certificate management, TLS/SSL termination, and secure communication.

Guides

1 Start Here
TLS/SSL Fundamentals
Intermediate 40 min

Public key infrastructure, certificate chains, the TLS handshake, and using OpenSSL for common tasks.

 2
Certificate Management
Intermediate 35 min

Obtaining and renewing certificates with Let's Encrypt and Certbot, building internal CAs, and troubleshooting failures.

Introduction

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. It is the successor to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). In modern web administration, ensuring that all services are encrypted is no longer optional.

Key Concepts

  • CA (Certificate Authority): An entity that issues digital certificates.
  • CSR (Certificate Signing Request): A message sent from an applicant to a certificate authority in order to apply for a digital certificate.
  • Root Certificate: A public key certificate that identifies a root certificate authority.
  • Intermediate Certificate: A certificate that acts as a link between the root certificate and the end-entity certificate.
  • Private Key: A secret key that is used to decrypt data and sign certificates; it must never be shared.

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