Alpha Space -> Computers -> Configuring Apache with SSL

Configuring Apache 2.2.x with SSL

1 Basic (Optional)

  • Edit the following directives and tags in APACHE_HOME/conf/httpd.conf, 
    ServerRoot, ServerAdmin, ServerName, DocumentRoot, 
<Directory %DocumentRoot%>, DirectoryIndex, ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/, 
<Directory %cgi-bin%>
  • Uncomment the following line, 
    Include conf/extra/httpd-manual.conf
  • Edit the directory in APACHE_HOME/conf/extra/httpd-manual.conf

2 Creating a RSA private key

Usually a key can be created by one of the following two commands, 

    openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key
    openssl genrsa -out server.key

The -des3 option is used to protect the key by a password, but win32 platform doesn't support encrypted keys. The following error will be generated if you try to start Apache, "SSLPassPhraseDialog builtin is not supported on Win32"

3 Creating a self-signed certificate

Find openssl.cnf (OpenSSL configuration file) at "openssl\apps" directory of OpenSSL source code. 

    openssl req -config openssl.cnf -new -x509 -key server.key -out 
        server.crt -days 365

4 Editing APACHE_HOME/conf/httpd.conf

Uncomment the following lines, 

    LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
    Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

5 Editing conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

  • Change directive SSLMutex to default
  • Edit the following directives (Optional), 
    DocumentRoot, ServerName, ServerAdmin, ErrorLog, TransferLog, 
SSLCertificateFile, SSLCertificateKeyFile
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