An SSL certificate is required to support the IP-HTTPS IPv6 transition technology when configuring DirectAccess. Implementation best practices dictate using a public SSL certificate signed by a trusted third-party vendor such as Entrust, Verisign, DigiCert, and others. SSL certificates issued by a private PKI are acceptable if the client trusts the issuing CA. Self-signed certificates are supported in some deployment scenarios, but their use is generally discouraged. For more detailed information regarding SSL certificate considerations for DirectAccess IP-HTTPS click here.

Symantec Issued Certificates

Symantec is a popular commercial SSL certificate provider that has been commonly used for many years. However, due to integrity issues associated with their PKI management practices, Google and Mozilla announced they will soon be deprecating these certificates. This means users who browse to an HTTPS web site protected with a Symantec SSL certificate will receive a warning in their browser indicating the certificate is not trusted.

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS

It is important to note that there is no impact at all for DirectAccess when the server is configured to use an SSL certificate issued by Symantec. There is nothing you need to do to address this issue in this scenario. However, if a wildcard certificate is installed on the DirectAccess server and it is also used on other public-facing web servers in the organization, it is likely that the certificate will replaced, perhaps by another certificate provider. In this case, DirectAccess IP-HTTPS must be configured to use the new or updated SSL certificate.

Updating IP-HTTPS SSL Certificate

To update the DirectAccess IP-HTTPS SSL certificate, import the SSL certificate along with the private key in to the local computer certificate store on each DirectAccess server. Next identify the thumbprint of the new SSL certificate. Finally, open an elevated PowerShell command window and enter the following command.

$thumbprint = “ssl_cert_thumbprint”
$cert = Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\localmachine\my | where {$_.thumbprint -eq $thumbprint}
Set-RemoteAccess -SslCertificate $cert -PassThru

Be sure to replace “ssl_cert_thumbprint” with the actual thumbprint of your SSL certificate. 😉 In addition, for load-balanced and/or multisite deployments, run these PowerShell commands on each server in the enterprise.

Additional Information

SSL Certificate Considerations for DirectAccess IP-HTTPS

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Null Cipher Suites Not Available 

DirectAccess IP-HTTPS Performance Issues