The SSL protocol runs above TCP/IP and below application protocols such as remote method invocation (RMI) or Tabular Data Stream™ (TDS).
Before the SSL connection is established, the server and client exchange a series of I/O round trips to negotiate and agree upon a secure encrypted session.
SSL uses certificates issued by certificate authorities (CAs) to establish and verify identities. A certificate is like an electronic passport; it contains all the information necessary to identify an entity, including the public key of the certified entity and the signature of the issuing CA.
See documentation from your third-party SSL security mechanism for instructions for using that software. See also the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Web site for additional information.