How long a certificate from web server is used in browser

[John King]

When I browse internet with a URL like
https://www.securesite.com, I firstly
got a certificate from the server.
Is this certificate only for this page or
for the whole session?

[Peter den Haan]

The certificate is for the entire (SSL/TLS) session. This session is defined at the secure socket layer and is quite different from the HTTP session you may be familiar with[1]. I'm not entirely sure at what point your typical browser ends that session -- when you go off to another site, I'd guess.
Does this help or does it look like mumbo-jumbo to you?
- Peter
[1] Having said that, an application server will typically use the SSL/TLS session rather than cookies to manage its HTTP session if accessed via secure HTTP.
[ May 12, 2003: Message edited by: Peter den Haan ]