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Using Secure Sockets Layer

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The System.Net classes use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt the connection for several network protocols.

For http connections, the WebRequest and WebResponse classes use SSL to communicate with web hosts that support SSL. The decision to use SSL is made by the WebRequest class, based on the URI it is given. If the URI begins with "https:", SSL is used; if the URI begins with "http:", an unencrypted connection is used.

To use SSL with File Transfer Protocol (FTP), set the EnableSsl property to true prior to calling GetResponse(). Similarly, to use SSL with Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), set the EnableSsl property to true prior to sending the email.

The SslStream class provides a stream-based abstraction for SSL, and offers many ways to configure the SSL handshake.

Example

Code

Dim MyURI As String = "https://www.contoso.com/"  
Dim Wreq As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create(MyURI)  
  
Dim serverUri As String = "ftp://ftp.contoso.com/file.txt"  
Dim request As FtpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(serverUri), FtpWebRequest)  
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DeleteFile  
request.EnableSsl = True  
Dim response As FtpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), FtpWebResponse)  

String MyURI = "https://www.contoso.com/";  
WebRequest WReq = WebRequest.Create(MyURI);  
  
String serverUri = "ftp://ftp.contoso.com/file.txt"  
FtpWebRequest request = (FtpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(serverUri);  
request.EnableSsl = true;  
request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Ftp.DeleteFile;  
FtpWebResponse response = (FtpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

Compiling the Code

This example requires:

  • References to the System.Net namespace.

See also