Using SSL to secure the connection between Enterprise Server and Smart Connection

Smart Connection connects to Enterprise Server through SSL by using a WoodWing CA certificate and CA Root certificates of common Certificate Authorities such as those of Symantec. All these certificates are provided as part of the Smart Connection plug-ins and should work without any further configuration. To see if the certificate of your choice is included, simply try connecting to Enterprise Server from Smart Connection.

Using certificates of other authorities or when connecting fails

When connecting to Enterprise Server fails — for example because you are using a top-level certificate of a Certificate Authority that is not part of the Smart Connection plug-ins — Smart Connection needs to be pointed to the path where the certificate is located.

Step 1. Access the WWSettings.xml file.

Step 2. Locate the following line and un-comment it:

<SCEnt:SSL enable="true" cacertPath="certificate_path"/>

Step 3. Replace certificate_path by the path to the certificate.

Example (Mac OS):<SCEnt:SSL enable="true" cacertPath="/Library/Application Support/WoodWing/Cert123.pem"/>

Note: Make sure that the correct quotation marks are used, as shown in the example above.

Step 4. Save the WWSettings.xml file.

Important: Make sure to validate the WWSettings.xml file for correct content. See Validating the WWSettings.xml file.

Step 5. Restart Smart Connection and try logging in to Enterprise Server again.

Note: For troubleshooting SSL, visit the Apache documentation: SSL/TLS Strong Encryption.

Using encryption keys

To let a user connect to Enterprise Server by making use of an encryption key, add cryptkey="[key name]" to the server URL in the WWSettings.xml file:

• Static:

<SCEnt:ServerInfo name="Enterprise" url="http://10.0.0.1/Enterprise/index.php" cryptkey="..."/>

• Dynamic:

<SCEnt:ServerInfo name="SC Enterprise" url="http://10.0.0.1/Enterprise/index.php" cryptkey="..."/>

Changing the SSL version

Smart Connection forces SSL connections to use TLSv1 by default. This behavior can be changed by adding the sslVersion setting to the WWSettings.xml file:

<SCEnt:SSL sslVersion="SSLv3"/>

Available options for the sslVersion parameter:

• TLSv1 (default)
• SSLv3¹
• Auto ²

¹ Usage of SSLv3 is discouraged as this is no longer considered secure.

² The use of 'Auto' is not encouraged because of potential incompatibilities between the versions of OpenSSL used on the client and on the server. These incompatibilities result in connection failures.

Document history

• 31 August 2018: Added a footnote to option SSLv3.