POC TLS Configuration: How to Validate Secure Connections Before Production

The logs showed nothing. It was the TLS handshake.

A Proof of Concept TLS configuration, or POC TLS configuration, is the fastest way to validate secure connections before deploying to production. It tests your cipher suites, protocol versions, certificates, and mutual authentication settings without risking customer traffic. Done right, it exposes misconfigurations early and confirms that your endpoints can negotiate TLS exactly as designed.

Start with a controlled environment. Use a minimal test server and a known client. Enable logging at the transport layer. Specify your supported TLS versions — TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 are standard. Disable older protocols like TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 to close common attack vectors. Select cipher suites that balance performance and security. For modern stacks, prioritize AEAD ciphers such as TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 or TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256.

Generate short-lived certificates for the POC phase. Store private keys securely and set strict file permissions. If you’re testing mutual TLS (mTLS), configure both server and client to present and verify certificates. This will confirm that your identity checks work under real handshake conditions.

Automate your POC TLS configuration tests. Script curl or OpenSSL commands to measure handshake success, verify certificate chains, and inspect negotiated cipher suites. Integrate these checks into CI pipelines so that changes to your config are validated before deployment.

Observe the results closely. Any handshake error codes, certificate validation failures, or weak cipher warnings in the POC phase must be fixed before production. Always re-run the test when renewing certs, changing domains, or upgrading servers.

A precise, repeatable POC TLS configuration process is not optional. It is the only way to ship secure, reliable encrypted connections with confidence.

See it live in minutes. Build and test your POC TLS configuration right now at hoop.dev.