This article explains various problems you might encounter after enabling Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
Accessing resources using HTTPS
If you are unable to access resources using a Secure Sockets Layer Web address (beginning with https:), or encounter error messages which indicate SSL problems, verify that your HTTP server is configured correctly for SSL by browsing the welcome page of the HTTP server using SSL by entering the URL: https://hostname.
If the page works with HTTP, but not HTTPS, the problem is with the HTTP server.
If the HTTP server handles SSL-encrypted requests successfully, or is not involved (for example, traffic flows from a Java client application directly to an enterprise bean hosted by the WebSphere Application Server, or the problem appears only after enabling WebSphere Application Server security), what kind of error are you seeing?
For general tips on diagnosing and resolving security-related problems, see Security components troubleshooting tips
If you do not see a problem that resembles yours, or if the information provided does not solve your problem, seeObtaining help from IBM
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException - The client and server could not negotiate the desired level of security. Reason: handshake failure
If you see a Java exception stack similar to the following example:
[Root exception is org.omg.CORBA.TRANSIENT: CAUGHT_EXCEPTION_WHILE_CONFIGURING_SSL_CLIENT_SOCKET: JSSL0080E: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException - The client and server could not negotiate the desired level of security. Reason: handshake failure:host=MYSERVER,port=1079 minor code: 4942F303 completed: No] at com.ibm.CORBA.transport.TransportConnectionBase.connect (TransportConnectionBase.java:NNN)
Some possible causes are:
To correct these problems:
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: unknown certificate
If you see a Java exception stack similar to the following example, it might be caused by not having the personal certificate for the server in the client truststore file:
ERROR: Could not get the initial context or unable to look up the starting context. Exiting. Exception received: javax.naming.ServiceUnavailableException: A communication failure occurred while attempting to obtain an initial context using the provider url: "corbaloc:iiop:localhost:2809". Make sure that the host and port information is correct and that the server identified by the provider url is a running name server. If no port number is specified, the default port number 2809 is used. Other possible causes include the network environment or workstation network configuration. [Root exception is org.omg.CORBA.TRANSIENT: CAUGHT_EXCEPTION_WHILE_CONFIGURING_SSL_CLIENT_SOCKET: JSSL0080E: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException - The client and server could not negotiate the desired level of security. Reason: unknown certificate:host=MYSERVER,port=1940 minor code: 4942F303 completed: No]
To correct this problem:
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: bad certificate
If you see a Java exception stack similar to the following example, it can be caused by having a personal certificate in the client keystore used for SSL mutual authentication but not having extracted the signer certificate into the server truststore file so that the server can trust it whenever the SSL handshake is made:
ERROR: Could not get the initial context or unable to look up the starting context. Exiting. Exception received: javax.naming.ServiceUnavailableException: A communication failure occurred while attempting to obtain an initial context using the provider url: "corbaloc:iiop:localhost:2809". Make sure that the host and port information is correct and that the server identified by the provider url is a running name server. If no port number is specified, the default port number 2809 is used.Other possible causes include the network environment or workstation network configuration. [Root exception is org.omg.CORBA.TRANSIENT: CAUGHT_EXCEPTION_WHILE_CONFIGURING_SSL_CLIENT_SOCKET: JSSL0080E: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException - The client and server could not negotiate the desired level of security. Reason: bad certificate: host=MYSERVER,port=1940 minor code: 4942F303 completed: No]
To verify this problem, check the server truststore file to determine if the signer certificate from the client personal certificate is there. For a self-signed client personal certificate, the signer certificate is the public key of the personal certificate. For a certificate authority signed client personal certificate, the signer certificate is the root CA certificate of the CA that signed the personal certificate.
To correct this problem, add the client signer certificate to the server truststore file.
org.omg.CORBA.INTERNAL: EntryNotFoundException or NTRegistryImp E SECJ0070E: No privilege id configured for: error when programmatically creating a credential
If you encounter the following exception in a client application attempting to request a credential from a WebSphere Application Server using SSL mutual authentication:
ERROR: Could not get the initial context or unable to look up the starting context. Exiting. Exception received: org.omg.CORBA.INTERNAL: Trace from server: 1198777258 at host MYHOST on port 0 >>org.omg.CORBA.INTERNAL: EntryNotFoundException minor code: 494210B0 completed: No at com.ibm.ISecurityLocalObjectBaseL13Impl.PrincipalAuthFailReason. map_auth_fail_to_minor_code(PrincipalAuthFailReason.java:99)
or a simultaneous error from the WebSphere Application Server that resembles:
[7/31/02 15:38:48:452 CDT] 27318f5 NTRegistryImp E SECJ0070E: No privilege id configured for: testuser
The cause might be that the user ID sent by the client to the server is not in the user registry for that server.
To confirm this problem, check that an entry exists for the personal certificate that is sent to the server. Depending on the user registry mechanism, look at the native operating system user ID or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server entries.
To correct this problem, add the user ID to the user registry entry (for example, operating system, LDAP directory, or other custom registry) for the personal certificate identity.