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Configuring SSL to Secure the Business Central Web Client Connection

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We recommend that you secure Business Central data that is transmitted over the Internet by enabling Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) on the connection to Business Central Web client.

SSL is a web protocol that encrypts data that is transmitted over a network to make the data and the network more secure and reliable. A website that is enabled with SSL uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) instead of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) as a communication protocol. Enabling SSL on a website requires that an SSL certificate is installed on the web server. An SSL certificate is a small file that the web server uses to prove its identity and establish a trusted connection with the browser that is trying to access Business Central Web client. When a browser connects to the Business Central Web client, the web server replies by sending its certificate to the browser. This certificate contains the web server's public encryption key and the name of the authority that granted the certificate. The browser verifies the certificate using the authority's public key.

To configure SSL, you must follow the steps in this article.

Note

You can configure SSL when you install the Business Central Web Server components using Business Central Setup .

Obtaining and Installing an SSL Certificate

In a production environment, you should obtain an SSL certificate from a certification authority. Some large organizations may have their own certification authorities, and other organizations can request a certificate from a third-party organization. In a test environment or development environment, you can create your own self-signed certificate.

Adding an HTTPS Binding That Uses the Certificate on the Dynamics 365 Business Central Website

After you get the certificate, you add a binding to the https protocol on the website. When you add the binding, you associate it with the certificate.

Add an https binding with the certificate to the website

  1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

  2. In the Connections pane, expand the Sites node, and then choose the Business Central Web client site to which you want to add the binding.

    By default, the site has the name Dynamics 365 Business Central Web Client.

  3. In the Actions pane, choose Bindings.

  4. In the Site Bindings dialog box, choose Add.

  5. In the Add Site Binding dialog box, set the Type field to https.

    You can use the default port 443 or change it to another port. If you change it to another port, you will have to provide the port number in the URL when you try to open the client.

  6. Set the SSL certificate field to the certificate that you obtained or created for the site.

  7. Choose the OK button, and then choose the Close button.

Redirecting HTTP to HTTPS (Optional)

To ensure that users always access the site that is secured with SSL, you can automatically redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS. This means that users do not have to explicitly include https in the URL in the browser. For example, the nonsecure URL of the Business Central Web client could be https://MyWebclient:8080/BC150 and the secure URL could be https://MyWebclient:443/BC150. If a user types https://MyWebclient:8080/BC150, the browser automatically redirects to https://MyWebclient:443/BC150.

There are different ways to redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS. The following procedure describes how to redirect HTTP requests to HTTPS by installing the Microsoft Application Request Routing for IIS 8 and modifying the configuration file for the Business Central Web Server instance.

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

  1. Download and install Microsoft Application Request Routing for IIS. For example, you can download from Microsoft Application Request Routing.

  2. On the computer that is running Business Central Web Server components, open the web.config file for the Business Central Web Server instance. Use a text editor, such as Notepad.

    The web.config file is located in the physical path of the web application on IIS. By default, the path is %systemroot%\inetpub\wwwroot\[VirtualDirectoryName]. For example, the folder for the default application is %systemroot%\inetpub\wwwroot\BC210.

  3. In the <system.webServer> element, add the following elements.

    <rewrite>  
  <rules>  
    <rule name="Redirect to HTTPS">  
      <match url="(.*)" />  
      <conditions>  
        <add input="{HTTPS}" pattern="off" ignoreCase="true" />  
      </conditions>  
      <action type="Redirect" url="https://{SERVER_NAME}/{R:1}" redirectType="SeeOther" />  
    </rule>  
  </rules>  
</rewrite>

  4. Save the navsettings.json file.

Business Central Web Server Overview