Setting Up an Authenticated Web Service to Send Push Notifications for Windows Phone
March 22, 2012
We recommend setting up an authenticated web service to send your notifications to the Microsoft Push Notification Service, because communication occurs over an HTTPS interface for better security. Authenticated web services do not have a daily limit on the number of push notifications they can send. Unauthenticated web services, on the other hand, are throttled at a rate of 500 push notifications per subscription per day. Additionally, authenticated web services are able to register a callback request, as described in How to: Set up a Callback Registration Request for Windows Phone.
While developing your web service, you may want to test the HTTPS interface and mutual authentication. To do this, you must upload a Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate to Windows Phone Marketplace, and apply the following criteria:
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The Key-Usage value of the TLS certificate must be set to include client authentication.
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The Root Certificate Authority (CA) of the certificate must be one of the CAs listed at: SSL Root Certificates for Windows Phone.
To submit your TLS certificate to Windows Phone Marketplace, go to the Certificates section of My Account, on Windows Phone Marketplace. Your web service is authenticated for four months after the certificate is submitted.
After the certificate is submitted, complete the following steps to use the authenticated channel:
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Set Service Name to the Common Name (CN) found in the certificate's Subject value.
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Install the TLS certificate on your web service and enable HTTP client authentication.
After you have completed development of your application, you can submit your application to Windows Phone Marketplace. While submitting the application for certification, select the appropriate TLS certificate. After your application passes certification, you will be able to publish the application to Windows Phone Marketplace and the four-month authentication limit will be removed.
