Did it happen to you that your lab WebSEAL instance suddenly stopped working? Everything seems to be up and running, but any regular request to port 444 results in “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage”? Well, it happened to me several days ago. Testing the same URL in Google Chrome revealed the possible cause – “ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR”. Additional test revealed that HTTP traffic on port 81 (which is typically not used) is served correctly.

I’ll save you from reading the frustrating troubleshooting details. The bottom line is simple – the self-signed SSL certificate supplied with IBM WebSEAL expired on August 27, 2011. This is the certificate that is used by default in many labs, including mine. The fix is really simple – if you know where to look and what to do.  Continue reading “Fixing WebSEAL that suddenly stopped responding to HTTPS” →