SSL Certificate Management and Expiration Monitoring Tool

SSL (or Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are small data files that create secure links between websites and browsers. SSL certificates help ensure any data passing between the website and a visitor’s browser remains protected, preventing hackers from gaining access to private data. 

While SSL certificates are important for data privacy, they’re also essential for e-commerce sites processing credit card transactions, as these interactions contain identifying information like names and addresses in addition to credit card numbers.

Once installed on web servers, these cryptographic keys create secure sessions by changing the application protocol from standard HTTP to HTTPS, which indicates a protected, secure connection.

SSL certificates can be purchased from Certification Authorities, which are dedicated third-party organizations that manage and issues certificates. SSL certificates have an expiration date and come in three types, each of which offers a different level of security:

1. Domain validated (DV) certificates verify the owner of the site, but nothing more. Since they don’t require any additional information from the company, DV certificates are typically considered the least trustworthy type of SSL certificate.
2. Organizationally validated (OV) certificates require a Certification Authority to validate the organization’s domain name and physical location. OV certificates indicate a moderate level of trust, making them a good fit for websites that don’t handle sensitive transactions. 
3. Extended validation (EV) certificates are considered vital for any site dealing with sensitive data. Organizations seeking the certificate must undergo an extensive review by the Certification Authority, which includes an examination of corporate documents to verify the applicant’s identity. Most web browsers will indicate secure EV certificate connections with a padlock icon or by listing the company name in green.

SSL certificate management refers to the processes required to ensure SSL certificates are properly deployed and used during all stages of their life cycles. This includes acquiring the certificates and deploying them, and tracking their usage, expiration, and renewal. 

SSL monitoring can be essential as the visibility provided by the certificate monitoring process aims to help users avoid security breaches, disruptions of service, and issues with security standard compliance. Another key part of the SSL monitoring process is certification expiration monitoring, which supports proactively renewing certificates to avoid losing security certification. 

Due to the important role SSL certificates play in maintaining security, it’s helpful to use a certificate management tool to make sure certificates are kept active and up to date. SSL certificate monitoring tools should include alerting systems designed to help keep users aware of potential vulnerabilities before they become fully realized problems. 

Certificate management tools can also take the guesswork out of SSL monitoring by monitoring web performance issues and the availability of web services, helping ensure connections are secure and visitors and clients will also be able to access the services without issues.

As more and more companies begin relying on internet-based transactions and interactions, the need to maintain up-to-date SSL certificates has become business-critical. Cyberattacks have also become more common and costly, with many hackers attempting to take advantage of any vulnerability they can find. 

There are a huge number of moving parts involved in maintaining proper security for networks and devices, which includes monitoring SSL certificate expiration for every SSL certificate deployed across the environment. 

SSL certificate management tools are built to automate the process of testing a web server's ability to accept incoming sessions over a secure channel and verify the security certificate's expiration date. Since SSL certificates are so widespread and relied upon for secure communications and transfers, ensuring they’re working as expected and renewed on time is essential for avoiding the loss of sales and customer confidence and the exposure of confidential or sensitive data caused by data breaches.

SSL certificate inventory tools are designed to provide SSL monitoring and assist with administering operational changes to certificates. Integrated and configurable SSL alerting systems can also help keep those who need to know informed about upcoming SSL expirations to help prevent security outages that could have disastrous effects, as browsers may not allow access to your site, rendering it unavailable. 

Using a centralized SSL certificate management tool is built to help reduce the potential for website outages and service downtime caused by expired SLL certificates, since many SSL certificates are distributed across an organization and deployed locally as needed. Centralized certificate inventory tools can help you ensure each certificate is collected into a single repository, and make the process of acquiring, deploying, and renewing each certificate easier and more efficient. This has the added benefit of reducing operational costs and time associated with manually managing multiple certificates.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is designed to take the guesswork out of managing and renewing SSL certificates. The certificate management tool and monitoring system in SAM is built to automate the processes of tracking certificates, which can give users greater control over the management of web server performance.

Using SAM’s SSL Certificate Date Expiration Monitor, you can test whether web servers verify the certificate’s expiry date. The response time warning and critical thresholds can also be customized to suit the needs of specific environments and SSL connections. 

SolarWinds SAM also includes the ability to monitor web server infrastructure alongside application performance for key applications and custom applications in one dashboard. SAM is designed to automatically scan and map systems environments to allow you to more easily view underlying dependencies that could help accelerate troubleshooting efforts.