confusion in my understanding Diffie-Helleman vs RSA and RSA VS Digital Certificate

[xine xine]

Hi !

I'm reading a bit about IPSEC, I had a new job where IPSec is a requiredment, also I'm on my certification process for CCDP where is not a bad thing to understanding VPN technologie as well.

So Diffie-Hellman algorithm is it the same thing as RSA protocol ? in my reading I understand those two are looklike use as interchangeably (maybe it's my understanding a bit bad....  I'm French, So English is not always natural)

Also when using digital certificate, private create by RSA, is it which one is used to signed communication all the time after,or is it used only when exchange is required with the CA process to obtain the certificate ?

Thanks !

[padatta]

Hi,

The process (maths) used in Diffie-Hellman is different then that in RSA. The following link will give more insight.

http://matdonline.free.fr/RSA-Diffie-Hellman-explained-in-5-minutes.htm

Moreover Diffie-Hellman is symmetric in nature, in the sense that both parties get the same key. RSA is assymetric in nature.

RSA keys are always used to sign/encrypt and also during contacting/requesting CA.

Paps