An SSL certificate is required for all SSL transactions, and as such is required for all SSL-enabled Virtual Services. With the LoadMaster, there are two types of SSL certificates:

  • Self-signed certificates generated by the LoadMaster itself
  • Certificates that are signed by a CA (Certificate Authority) such as Verisign or Thawte

When an SSL-enabled Virtual Service is configured on the LoadMaster, a self-signed certificate is installed automatically.

Generally, self-signed certificates should not be used for public-facing production websites.

They may be acceptable for use in some other scenarios, such as:

  • Intranet sites
  • QA sites, where web sites are tested but not presented to the general public