Important
Product Alert:
Root Certificate Expiration
December 17,
1999
Your
enterprise may be using the SSL features of Netscape browser and server
products. If so, it is important for you to read
on.
Netscape browser and server
products employ root certificates from companies including,
but not limited to Verisign, as
an enabling feature of SSL communications - specifically,
authentication. All root
certificates expire periodically. As you have been notified by
Verisign and
Netscape over the last six months, certain Netscape browser and server
root certificates will expire between December 25, 1999 and December 31,
1999.
In the vast majority of cases,
where a Netscape browser shipped since August of 1998 (Netscape Communicator 4.06 or later),
is communicating with the web server, there is no issue for you. Earlier versions of the
browser (Netscape Communicator 4.05 or earlier) have certificates that will expire. At your
earliest convenience, upgrade the browser to the current
Netscape Communicator version.
Information on browser root certificates is available on
many sites including http://home.netscape.com/security/ and http://www.verisign.com/server/cus/rootcert/webmaster.html.
Free browser downloads are available from multiple sources
including http://www.netcenter.com.
For Netscape server-to-server
communications, root certificates MUST be updated before
the expiration date. If the
certificates are not updated, the products may fail to
properly operate.
Replacing server root
certificates requires careful attention to the most current tech notes
and instructions.
Failure to follow the most current tech notes and instructions will not
correct the issue.
Please note that patches may be required to implement some solutions.
Complete technotes for replacing server root certificates can be found at http://www.iplanet.com/cert/prodprep.html.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT AND
URGENT COMMUNICATION. It is possible that customers concentrating on Y2K
compliance issues could overlook this unrelated certificate
expiration requirement. Again,
please take the appropriate actions prior to the expiration
date of your server
root certificates.
We regret any inconvenience,
but we are committed to providing the most timely information possible to help ensure the
successful use of our
products | 
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