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Apache SSL Support


From http://www.debianadmin.com/install-and-configure-apache2-with-php5-and-ssl-support-in-debian-etch.html


''Generate A certificate''

Generating a certificate will provide to protect the traffic exchanged between clients and your server, however it will be unsigned by a trusted certificate authority so it will generate warnings.

If you want to avoid these warning messages you need to get a trusted certificate from SSL certificate vendors.If you want to Generating an SSL certificate for Apache2 you need to use the openssl. This will ask you questions interactively then generate the certificate file appropriately.

Note:-For generating certificate you might have used the apache2-ssl-certificate command in debian sarge but in debian etch this command not available.If you want to generate certificates you need to use openssl from you command prompt Use the following command to generate certificates

#openssl req $@ -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -out /etc/apache2/apache.pem -keyout /etc/apache2/apache.pem

Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
………………………………………….++++++
…………………………………….++++++
writing new private key to ‘/etc/apache2/apache.pem’
—–
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter ‘.’, the field will be left blank.
—–
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:GB
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:
Locality Name (eg, city) []:London
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Debian
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:
Email Address []:

This will complete the certificate now you need to make sure you have the correct permissions for .pem file if not use the

following command to set the correct permissions

#chmod 600 /etc/apache2/apache.pem

By default the server will listen for incoming HTTP requests on port 80 - and not SSL connections on port 443. So you need to enable SSL support by entering the following entry to the file /etc/apache2/ports.conf save and exit the file.

Listen 443

Enable SSL Support

If you want to enable SSL support for your apache web server you need to use the following comamnd

#a2enmod ssl
Module ssl installed; run /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload to enable.

Now you need to restart the apache2 server using the following command

#/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Configuring SSL Certificate to Virtual Hosts in Apache2

First you need to edit the /etc/apache2/sites-available/default file change

NameVirtualHost *
to

NameVirtualHost *:80
NameVirtualHost *:443

Now you need to configure Virtual hosts using port 80

Example
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
.
.
.
configure Virtual hosts using port 443 the main difference is you need to use the following two lines for each SSL hosts.

SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/apache.pem

Example
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
.
.
.
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/apache.pem

Restart Apache and you're all set.