How to require a secure connection to a domain

This article describes how to force a web site to only load under a secure SSL connection.

If you have an SSL Certificate for any of your domains, and would like the site to only load with an 'HTTPS' heading, this can be easily set through Internet Information Services (IIS).

Please be aware that a requirement for this setting is that it must have an SSL Certificate in place, or it will cause the site to be non-functional.

First, open IIS by navigating to 'Start --> Administrative Tools --> Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager'. As seen here, it can be pinned to the Start Menu.

Once IIS is open, right-click the server name, and expand the 'Web Sites' folder, so it displays all sites hosted on the server. Locate the domain you wish to require the secure connections for, right-click on it and choose 'Properties'.

Inside the Properties window, click on the 'Directory Security' tab.

Under the 'Secure Communications' heading within the Directory Security tab, click on the button which says 'Edit'.

The first option within the window is 'Require secure channel (SSL)'. Place a check mark in this box to enable the setting, click OK to exit out of the window, and then click OK again to close out of the web site properties

The site will now only load under an 'https' heading, and users who attempt to load the site non-securely will receive the following message:

If you have any questions about requriing your domain to load under a secure heading, or about SSL Certificates in general, please don't hesitate to contact our Technical Support Department and they will be more than happy to assist you.