HTTP and HTTPS
From Novara Support Knowledgebase
(or, What has SSL ever done for us)
This page is to cover the frequently raised questions about using SSL certificates on your websites.
Does SSL enabling your website automatically mean that SSL will be used when someone types in www.mysite.ie?
No. The default protocol used by browsers is HTTP, so if you look at the address bar in your browser you will see
http://www.mysite.ie/
if SSL is being used that would appear as
https://www.mysite.ie/
(not necessarily with the little icons shown above)
What does SSL do?
SSL, or the Secure Sockets Layer, is a protocol which encrypts traffic between your web site and a user's web browser.
If my site is SSL enabled, should I use it for the whole site?
As a general rule you would only use SSL where sensitive data is being passed over the Internet such as personal details, credit card numbers and so forth. As a general rule it makes sense to use HTTP for the non-sensitive parts of the website as using the encryption takes fractionally longer than not using it.
What's the easiest way to use SSL for the shop part of my website?
In your main site instead of having a link which reads http://www.mysite.ie/shop or /shop use https://www.mysite.ie/shop/
Can I force a website or part of it to use SSL?
In the Unix based hosting you can create or modify a file called .htaccess in the directory you wish to secure and add lines similar to the ones below to it:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !443
RewriteRule (.*) https://www.mysite.ie/shop/ [R]
This redirects the visitor from the HTTP version to the HTTPS one.
In the Windows based hosting you can enforce SSL for the whole site by logging into the hosting control panel at https://cp.host.ie/ , clicking Web Options, choosing Edit against the SSL options, ticking the box marked 'Force SSL connection' and clicking Submit.
How do you use SSL with OSCommerce?
OSCommerce has some SSL oriented settings which allow it to be configured in certain ways. This is documented in detail at: http://www.oscommerce.info/kb/osCommerce/General_Information/Common_Problems/75
Does using SSL on the website mean that any e-mail from the site is encrypted?
No. SSL acts as an encrypted pipe between the web server and the web user. Its influence only applies to traffic within that pipe, and not what happens beyond either end.
