The server refuses the handshake.

Somewhere in the QA environment, TLS configuration is broken.

This problem wastes days. A bad certificate, wrong protocol version, weak cipher suite — each is enough to block integration tests, stall release pipelines, and break trust between components. In QA, precision matters. TLS configuration must match production as closely as possible, or your test results are meaningless.

Start with the protocol. Modern deployments should enforce TLS 1.2 or TLS 1.3. Anything lower is insecure and may be rejected by current libraries. Check your server and client settings — in Java, that means SSLSocketFactory or HttpsURLConnection properties; in Nginx or Apache, that means the ssl_protocols directive.

Next, align cipher suites. Production often disables weak or obsolete options. QA must mirror this. Use openssl ciphers -v or online tools to verify allowed ciphers match your target environment.

Certificates come next. In QA, use real CA-signed certs when possible, or ensure self-signed certs are distributed and trusted by all clients. A mismatch between certificate CN and hostname will trigger handshake failures. Automate renewal and deployment to avoid expired certs mid-cycle.

Enable strict verification. Disable insecureSkipVerify flags, remove test-only trust stores in regression builds. QA TLS should test the real chain of trust, not bypass it.

Finally, don’t forget logging. Capture full handshake logs and debug output from your TLS library. This speeds diagnosis and confirms protocols, ciphers, and certificate validity.

When QA TLS configuration mirrors production, you catch failures early, ship faster, and secure every endpoint before release.

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