As we already discussed, the whiteboard uses JSSE, and JSSE implements the SSL and TLS protocols. These protocols use public-key encryption to ensure the privacy of messages sent over the Internet. In a public-key encryption system, both clients and server must have a pair of keys, one public and one private. Before our whiteboard can even begin to mediate messages between users, we must generate these keys.

Once the keys have been generated, we'll provide the client side a file containing its public and private keys. It will also have a copy of the server's public key certificate. Keys are stored in a specially formatted file called a keystore.

The following table describes the keystore files we'll be using.