HTTP transport error - Webservices call

[Joe San]

Guys,

I'm experiencing a HTTP transport error when I try to invoke a web service via https:

Following is the stack trace. I guess it has got to do with some certificate stuff. I guess this would make
sense if I call the web service from a different client machine. But in my scenario, the client is the same
as the server. The web service runs on the same machine where my client program is trying to invoke a
method on the webservice. Why do I face this error?

com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.ClientTransportException: HTTP transport error: 
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path 
building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find 
valid certification path to requested target
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.transport.http.client.HttpClientTransport.getOutput(HttpClientTransport.java:121)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.transport.http.client.HttpTransportPipe.process(HttpTransportPipe.java:142)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.transport.http.client.HttpTransportPipe.processRequest(HttpTransportPipe.java:83)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.transport.DeferredTransportPipe.processRequest(DeferredTransportPipe.java:105)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.api.pipe.Fiber.__doRun(Fiber.java:587)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.api.pipe.Fiber._doRun(Fiber.java:546)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.api.pipe.Fiber.doRun(Fiber.java:531)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.api.pipe.Fiber.runSync(Fiber.java:428)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.Stub.process(Stub.java:211)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.sei.SEIStub.doProcess(SEIStub.java:124)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.sei.SyncMethodHandler.invoke(SyncMethodHandler.java:98)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.sei.SyncMethodHandler.invoke(SyncMethodHandler.java:78)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.sei.SEIStub.invoke(SEIStub.java:107)
        at $Proxy24.encryptTicket(Unknown Source)
        at de.test.TestWebServices.runTest1(TestWebServices.java:104)
        at de.test.TestWebServices.start(TestWebServices.java:67)
        at de.test.TestWebServices.main(TestWebServices.java:25)
Caused by: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: 
PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: 
unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:174)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1623)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:198)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:192)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1074)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:128)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:529)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:465)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:884)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1120)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1147)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1131)
        at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.afterConnect(HttpsClient.java:434)
        at sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.connect(AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.java:166)
        at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getOutputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:904)
        at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.getOutputStream(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:230)
        at com.sun.xml.internal.ws.transport.http.client.HttpClientTransport.getOutput(HttpClientTransport.java:109)
        ... 16 more
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: 
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:294)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:200)
        at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:218)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:126)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:209)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:249)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1053)
        ... 28 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:174)
        at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:238)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:289)
        ... 34 more
com.sun.xml.internal.ws.client.ClientTransportException: HTTP transport error: 
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: 
PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: 
unable to find valid certification path to requested target