Hi, Ted.
What you said makes good sense and answers my question completely. I appreciate your help. Thank you. John From: owner-openssl-us...@openssl.org [mailto:owner-openssl-us...@openssl.org] On Behalf Of Ted Byers Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 1:35 PM To: openssl-users@openssl.org Subject: Re: openssl on a home LAN On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 12:36 PM, John A. Wallace <jw72...@verizon.net> wrote: I am trying to figure out whether there is any point in using openssl on a home LAN between two computers. Would that improve on security in any way? Would I be limited in the types of OS connections? I mean, could I connect Windows with Linux? Also, if I want to make such a connection between two OS running in virtual machines, could that be done too? Thanks. openssl, almost certainly not. That is, unless you're planning on doing some web development and/or hosting a website on your home LAN. In that case, you'd use openssl to make the certificates and keys necessary to support HTTPS on your web server or application server, as well as to create the CSR when it comes time to buy your domain name and then a more useful certificate signed by one fo the commercial CAs. But, if you use wireless connections between your computers and your router/modem (whatever your ISP provided), then it is sufficient to secure that connection, which is itself just a matter of properly configuring your router and computers. Your router probably came with instructions that tell you how to secure wireless connections between your computers and the router; possibly for Windows only, and possibly for Windows, and Linux, depending on the quality of your ISP. If all your computers can browse the web using your modem, it is possible to get them to connect to each other also; but that falls into the realm of knowing how to use your computers; especially how to configure them to work together. For information about that, Google is your friend, and apart from that, your best line of support will be the support provided by whoever distributes your OS (usually mail lists supported by whichever Linux distribution you're using, and their FAQs). Unless you're a web application programmer, you really don't need anything other than the services of the operating systems you're using. Cheers Ted
