OpenSSL configuration for PHP on Apache not working

Question

(I copied this over from stackoverflow because a PHP question is probably better suited for this place)

I need OpenSSL working on an Apache 2 Webserver with PHP in order to use a combination of Moodle and Mahara with SSO.

The Server is running Ubuntu 10.04.3 and I've enabled the SSL package as described here. I've also followed these steps for setting up the certificates. Manually creating them worked fine.

However, Mahara does not see OpenSSL as correctly configured:

Could not generate a new SSL key. Are you sure that both openssl and the PHP module for openssl are installed on this machine?

This is from the Apache error.log after starting the server:

[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [warn] RSA server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [warn] RSA server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [warn] Init: Name-based SSL virtual hosts only work for clients with TLS server name indication support (RFC 4366)
PHP Deprecated:  Comments starting with '#' are deprecated in /etc/php5/apache2/conf.d/imap.ini on line 1 in Unknown on line 0
[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [warn] RSA server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [warn] RSA server certificate is a CA certificate (BasicConstraints: CA == TRUE !?)
[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [warn] Init: Name-based SSL virtual hosts only work for clients with TLS server name indication support (RFC 4366)
[Thu Aug 25 10:38:06 2011] [notice] Apache/2.2.14 (Ubuntu) mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8k configured -- resuming normal operations

And this is what I get when visiting Maharas networking page, which says it couldn't find OpenSSL:

[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] [WAR] 6d (api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1324) openssl_csr_new(): dn: add_entry_by_NID 17 -> Mahara for example.com (failed), referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] Call stack (most recent first):, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * log_message("openssl_csr_new(): dn: add_entry_by_NID 17 -> Maha...", 8, true, true, "/var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php", 1324) at /var/www/mahara/lib/errors.php:446, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * error(2, "openssl_csr_new(): dn: add_entry_by_NID 17 -> Maha...", "/var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php", 1324, array(size 11)) at Unknown:0, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * openssl_csr_new(array(size 7), resource(#22), array(size 1)) at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1324, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo->generate_keypair() at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1238, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo->get_keypair() at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1145, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo->__construct() at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1131, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo::singleton() at /var/www/mahara/admin/site/networking.php:56, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] , referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] [WAR] 6d (api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1328) Could not generate a new SSL key. Are you sure that both openssl and the PHP module for openssl are installed on this machine?, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] Call stack (most recent first):, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo->generate_keypair() at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1238, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo->get_keypair() at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1145, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo->__construct() at /var/www/mahara/api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1131, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx]   * OpenSslRepo::singleton() at /var/www/mahara/admin/site/networking.php:56, referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/
[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] , referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/

I don't quite get it. What exactly is wrong?

Edit: Just to clarify: The issue seems to be with PHP, the Apache seems fine: Apache/2.2.14 (Ubuntu) mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8k configured -- resuming normal operations

Answer 1

Using standard https to view files on the server, does that generate any ssl error messsages? If so, it means your certificates are not set up properly. If there are no errors, I have no idea what's goin on unless there is a secondary level if restrictions for creating them.

Answer 2

Aaaaaaargh such a stupid problem. I just found the solution. The issue was this:

[Thu Aug 25 10:45:26 2011] [error] [client xx.xx.xx.xx] [WAR] 6d (api/xmlrpc/lib.php:1324) openssl_csr_new(): dn: add_entry_by_NID 17 -> Mahara for example.com (failed), referer: http://example.com/mahara/admin/ Instead of "Mahara for example.com", which is the string I set as site name in the Mahara settings, it simply expected "example.com"