Error messages on connection issues
Up until now when there were connection issues with the external system, we showed the error message 'Communication failure'. To make it easier for our partners to investigate the connection issue on their side, we are going to provide, where possible, a more detailed error message.
Examples of typical error messages and their explanation are included hereafter. Moreover, frequently occuring errors and their explanations/how to solve can be found here: generic_http Errors & FAQ
Certificate Issues
You can generally refer to https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/ , there must be no errors related to "Chain Issues" or "Trusted" status.
These always indicate an invalid / incomplete configuration on the target server and hence must be fixed bei their administrators
Problem with certificate chain or certificate hostname:
This error message usually indicates one of the following issues
- Incomplete chain is presented: servers must provide full chain up to root CA
- Wrong certificate is presented: (e.g. the certificate is for umbrellanet.ch but the actual host name from the profile update url is umbrella.ch) Servers must always present a certificate for the correct hostname
- The certificate is issued by an untrusted CA
Secure connection to '<hostname>' failed: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
Expired / Not Yet Valid Certificate
Webservers must provide a valid SSL certificate
Secure connection to '<hostname>' failed (CertificateExpiredException NotAfter: Mon Apr 13 01:59:59 CEST 2015)
SSL Handshake failure
SSL Handshake failed. Check supported TLS versions on receiver side - usually the receiver is using outdated (insecure) encryption
Secure connection to '<hostname>' failed (SSL Handshake Failed)
Other Issues
Connection refused
The target server is not reachable (check firewall on receiver side)
Connection to '<hostname>' failed (connection refused)
Connection time out
The server did not reply within our timeout of 30 seconds
Remote host '<hostname>' failed to respond (timeout)