How can I test HTTPS configuration in a LAN?

Question

I'm developing a website that should be used with HTTPS. I am developing the site on my Windows machine and I have a Linux machine on the same LAN where I test my websites. I don't have a DNS-server on the LAN so I use IP-addresses to access the website.

On the server I use Ubuntu Server and Nginx web server. Is there any easy way I can test the HTTPS configuration in my LAN? E.g if I generate a SSL-certificate myself, but I don't have a domain name to set up it with. Any recommendations for testing? Or should I use a subdomain test.example.com and put an A record to my local IP-adress to the test server E.g. 192.168.1.10?

Answer 1

Generate a self-signed certificate* for Nginx. Configure Nginx to use it.

Edit the hosts file on your computer, add the domain your testing.
On *nix, it's /etc/hosts in Windows it's %systemroot%\System32\Drivers\Etc\hosts.
Add a line similar to www.example.com 192.0.2.5 (substitute the domain and your server's IP).

You should now be able to browse out to www.example.com and see the test page on your server.

_{*Ignore the part at the end of these directions, it's for Apache only.}