The embodiment of the invention discloses an
authentication method and equipment for a digital
certificate, relates to the field of communications, and solves the problem of relatively high possibility of a failure of a
client in accessing a
server. A specific scheme comprises the following steps: receiving, by a
server, a
transport layer security (TLS) request message sent by a
client, wherein the TLS request message comprises an
extended field; at the determination that the
extended field comprises a public key sequence number of at least one
root certificate, matching the public key sequence number of the at least one
root certificate with a public key sequence number of a
root certificate comprised in a corresponding relation, determining a public key sequence number of a target root
certificate, searching a sequence number of a first TLS
certificate corresponding to the public key sequence number of the target root certificate from the corresponding relation, acquiring a link of the first TLS certificate according to the sequence number of the first TLS certificate, and sending a first TLS reply message to the
client, wherein the first TLS reply message comprises the link of the first TLS certificate. The embodiment of the invention is applied to a process of authenticating the digital certificate.