SSL offloading is taking care of SSL process on a separate device so that it doesn’t affect the web server’s performance.
Encryption often requires a lot of computer processing. That can be a drag on already busy web servers. But what if you could separate the intense processing of encryption from the heavy workload involved in sending and receiving web page traffic? That’s the primary purpose of SSL offloading.
What Is SSL Offloading?
When information transmitted through SSL secure protocol, web server takes action to encrypt and/or decrypt your web traffic. This process assigns a substantial load on the web server which will affecting on performance of web server.
To deal with the added burden of encrypting data on the server, many networks now employ SSL offloading. This network solution involves the removal of SSL encryption from incoming traffic before it reaches the web server. SSL offloading is taking care of SSL process on a separate device so that it doesn’t affect the web server’s performance.
How Does SSL Offloading Work?
The idea behind SSL offloading is to do the work of encryption anywhere besides on the web server. That could mean a totally separate machine, or the offloading could be handled on a different processing device on the same machine. In short, SSL offloading is specially designed to perform SSL acceleration or SSL termination.
Think of all the processing required to encrypt data. Encryption is CPU-intensive operation. It means that any computer dealing with encryption can become bogged down. Have you noticed how sometimes your laptop or smartphone browser really slows down when you are transacting business online? That’s because SSL increases the workload. Let’s look at some excellent benefits of SSL offloading.
Boost the page load speed time.
Faster response from the Web server.
Better web server performance.
Enhance the stability of website.
Auto-scaling the web servers during the peak hours of traffic.
Use as a load balancer for serving web traffic using different servers.
Any owner of a website that handles a lot of encrypted data should consider SSL offloading. It is a way of freeing up web servers so that they can focus on their primary tasks.
One way to handle SSL offloading is through something called SSL acceleration. This is a solution that uses application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) to process encryption. These are special, dedicated hardware components that may be used to alleviate the workload of on-board CPUs.
The process of SSL termination is fairly simple. Data first goes to a device that encrypts or decrypts information – depending on which direction the data is traveling.
Any encrypted data that comes toward the web server, for instance, is processed at this device and then forwarded on to the web server without encryption. This type of offloading is the quickest and most efficient form.
SSL Bridging
The purpose of SSL bridging is to perform extra checks on the data to ensure that there is no malware included. The process includes decrypting the incoming data, inspecting it for any malicious code, and then re-encrypting it and sending it on to the web server.
Obviously, this form of offloading is meant to increase security rather than relieve the web server of processing activities.
Ensuring that data remains secure can be costly in terms of infrastructure investment and processing power. SSL offloading can alleviate the workload for busy web servers. It can also be used to provide greater security to ward off malicious attacks. SSL offloading is another great tool for the network manager’s toolkit.
SSL offloading is the process of removing the SSL-based encryption from incoming traffic to relieve a web server of the processing burden of decrypting and/or encrypting traffic sent via SSL. The processing is offloaded to a separate device designed specifically for SSL acceleration
SSL acceleration
SSL acceleration refers to off-loading processor-intensive SSL encryption and decryption from a server to a device configured to accelerate the SSL encryption/decryption routine.
This results in smooth loading of the website and faster processing of requests at the end of the web application. It may also aid in HTTPS inspection, reverse proxy, traffic control, persistence of cookies, etc., depending on what kind of SSL load balancer you have installed at your end.
SSL initiates an authentication process called a handshake between two communicating devices to ensure that both devices are really who they claim to be. SSL also digitally signs data in order to provide data integrity, verifying that the data is not tampered with before reaching its intended recipient.
An SSL load balancer acts as the server‑side SSL endpoint for connections with clients, meaning that it performs the decryption of requests and encryption of responses that the web or application server would otherwise have to do.
How Does SSL Termination Work? SSL termination works by intercepting the encrypted traffic before it hits your servers, then decrypting and analyzing that traffic on an Application Delivery Controller (ADC) or dedicated SSL termination device instead of the app server.
SSL offloading is the process of removing the SSL-based encryption from incoming traffic to relieve a web server of the processing burden of decrypting and/or encrypting traffic sent via SSL. The processing is offloaded to a separate device designed specifically for SSL acceleration or SSL termination.
Without SSL, your site visitors and customers are at higher risk of being having their data stolen. Your site security is also at risk without encryption. SSL protects website from phishing scams, data breaches, and many other threats. Ultimately, It builds a secure environment for both visitors and site owners.
A browser or server attempts to connect to a website (i.e. a web server) secured with SSL. The browser/server requests that the web server identify itself. The web server sends the browser/server a copy of its SSL certificate. The browser/server checks to see whether or not it trusts the SSL certificate.
Without an SSL certificate, only the letters HTTP – i.e., without the S for Secure – will appear. A padlock icon will also display in the URL address bar. This signals trust and provides reassurance to those visiting the website.
Website owners need to obtain an SSL certificate from a certificate authority, and then install it on their web server (often a web host can handle this process). A certificate authority is an outside party who can confirm that the website owner is who they say they are. They keep a copy of the certificates they issue.
In SSL Termination, the load balancer establishes a new SSL connection with the backend servers, re-encrypting the traffic before forwarding it. On the other hand, in SSL Offloading, the load balancer forwards the decrypted traffic as unencrypted HTTP traffic.
SSL termination at load balancer alleviates web servers of the extra compute cycles needed to decrypt SSL traffic. The security risk of terminating at the load balancer is lessened when the load balancer is within the same data center as the web servers.
SSL bridging: The Load Balancer decrypts incoming HTTPS traffic, and re-encrypts it when sending to the backend server. SSL offloading (aka SSL termination): The Load Balancer decrypts incoming HTTPS traffic, and sends it to the backend server unencrypted.
SSL is standard technology for securing an internet connection by encrypting data sent between a website and a browser (or between two servers). It prevents hackers from seeing or stealing any information transferred, including personal or financial data.
The client contacts the server using a secure URL (HTTPS…). The server sends the client its certificate and public key. The client verifies this with a Trusted Root Certification Authority to ensure the certificate is legitimate. The client and server negotiate the strongest type of encryption that each can support.
An SSL certificate secures your website to protect important customer data from cybercriminals. If you collect personal information from customers, whether it's credit card numbers or something as simple as an email address, your website needs an SSL certificate, even if you don't sell anything.
No SSL means no online security is enabled on your website. SSL certificate is a digitally signed certificate that provides online security to sensitive data.
If the SSL termination takes place in an internal network and the communication between the SSL offloading device and the web server is not sufficiently secure, there is a risk of interception or manipulation within the internal network.
SSL termination or SSL offloading decrypts and verifies data on the load balancer instead of the application server. Spared of having to organize incoming connections, the server can prioritize on other tasks like loading web pages. This helps increase server speed.
Introduction: My name is Tyson Zemlak, I am a excited, light, sparkling, super, open, fair, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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