Can I use a self-signed certificate on a live Azure cloud?

I need to test whether HTTPS works right in my Azure web role deployed on the cloud. I followed all steps to create a self-signed certificate and associate it with my role. Now my开发者_开发技巧 role works okay via HTTP, but requests HTTPS port just time out.

I suspect the problem is that the certificate is self-signed. Can I use self-signed certificates on a cloud?

If there is a problem with a certificate I would not expect the connection to "time out", that shoulds more like a firewall or comms issue.

As Phil suggests, your timeout isn't caused by your use of a self-signed certificate. You just get a security warning from your browser if the certificate isn't installed locally as a trusted Cert.

I'm using self-signed certs quite successfully.

More likely that you don't have a HTTPS Endpoint defined on port 443 (or a connectivity issue, again, as Phil suggests).

The real problem was I hadn't added the endpoint into the <Bindings> section in <Sites>:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <ServiceDefinition name="RoleName" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition">
 <WebRole name="Role" vmsize="Medium">
 <Sites>
  <Site name="Web">
    <Bindings>
      <Binding name="HttpIn" endpointName="HttpIn" />
      <Binding name="HttpsIn" endpointName="HttpsIn" /> <<<<<<!!!!!!!
    </Bindings>
  </Site>
</Sites>
<ConfigurationSettings>
  blahblahblah
</ConfigurationSettings>

and looks like MSDN doesn't mention this explicitly at this moment of time.

So the bottom line is: self-signed certificates can be used, the browser will complain as it usually does with self-signed certificates, the new endpoint must be listed in both <Endpoints> and <Bindings>.