Connecting to PostgreSQL with SSL using OpenSSL s_client

Question

I am trying to connect to my PostgreSQL server on AWS using SSL from the OpenSSL s_client on XP. I can connect to a third party using this s_client. On both the server and XP, I am using openssl version 0.9.8.k.

When I try to connect to my server, I get the result:

CONNECTED(00000003) 2036:error:140790E5:SSL routines:SSL23_WRITE:ssl handshake failure:s23_lib.c:188 :

In the Postgres log, I see the entry:

2009-10-30 13:58:08 UTC LOG: invalid length of startup packet

I'd appreciate any suggestions about where to look to get this working. Maybe there is a public AWS image I can look at on which PostgreSQL is known to work?

Answer 1

You cannot use *s_client*. PostgreSQL does protocol negotiation before SSL is started (to figure out if it should do SSL or not, since they both run on the same port). You need to use a proper PostgreSQL client (such as psql or pgadmin, for example), not *s_client*.