Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition

Chapter 18. javax.net and javax.net.ssl

This chapter documents the javax.net package and, more importantly, its subpackage javax.net.ssl. These packages were originally defined by the Java Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE) before they were integrated into Java 1.4, which is why they have a “javax” prefix.

javax.net is a small package that simply defines abstract factory classes for creating network sockets and servers sockets. javax.net.ssl provides subclasses of these factory classes that have the specific purpose of creating sockets and server sockets that enable secure network communication through the SSL protocol and the closely-related TLS protocol.