Ahhh, now I begin to understand.  I was incorrectly thinking the secure channel just 
could not be established.  You say it is established but defaults to using the first 
certificate it can find.  That would mean I can forget about my next step, which would 
have been to try different certificates for different hosts.  I can either live with 
the name mismatch, or use IP-based VHosts.

Thanks for your help, Jeff.  I did look in the archives, but either you have explained 
it better or else the explanations have finally started to sink in.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 12:49 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: SSL and vhosts
> 
> 
> Keith,
> 
> Perhaps it would be better to say "Name-based VHosts will not work
> correctly or as expected"..
> If you search the archives, you will find this has been 
> brought up many
> times and some very good explanations..
> 
> Basically, the securing of the channel between browser and 
> server is done
> BEFORE any HTTP request is sent to the server - so it is 
> impossible for the
> server to know which name-based VHost you actually want (it 
> will use the
> certificate for the first NBVH)
> However, after the channel is secured, then the HTTP request 
> is sent, and
> the server can identify which NBVH you want and reply appropriately..
> 
> Naturally, it is impossible for the certificate of the first 
> NBVH to match
> more than one NBVH, so users access any other NBVH will always get a
> certificate/server name mismatch..
> 
> Only option for it to work correctly is to use different IP/Port
> combinations for each SSL-required VHost
> 
> Rgds
> Jeff
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Hunt,Keith A" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, April 06, 2002 3:21 AM
> Subject: RE: SSL and vhosts
> 
> 
> >
> > Well, that all depends on what one is trying to accomplish 
> -- this case
> is for a known, limited, internal user population.  As I 
> said, the mismatch
> between host names and cert names is expected at this point.  
> Heck, the
> cert I am using doesn't match the box at all, let alone the 
> vhost name.
> This is still a test machine.  My next step would be to see 
> if separate
> certs could be used for separate vhosts and eliminate the 
> mismatched name
> problem.  I haven't decided whether that is even very important for my
> purposes.
> >
> > What is perplexing to me is not the mismatched names issue, 
> but rather
> why this works at all when everything I have read says it 
> won't.  That is,
> it won't work at all in the sense that the encrypted 
> connection cannot be
> established because of the sequence things are done in the handshake.
> >
> <snipped>
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Hunt,Keith A [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > > > Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 8:20 AM
> > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > Subject: SSL and vhosts
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Please pardon me if this is a dumb question.  I have read
> > > that SSL and
> > > > name-based vhosts cannot be done, yet I set it up and it
> > > > seems to be working
> > > > OK, apart from the expected complaints about mismatched host
> > > > name and server
> > > > certificate.  Am I missing something?  I am running Apache
> > > > 1.3.23 and modssl
> > > > 2.8.7. on Linux
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Keith Hunt  330.972.2968  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > Internet & Server Systems
> > > > The University of Akron
> >
> 
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