Apache SSL Installation

Question

I'm trying to install an SSL certificate on a Linux Apache 2.2.3 server. I've been browsing on-line to see how to install the certificate and most say to edit the 'httpd.conf' file. However, there are two of these files and I'm not sure which to edit. Here are the file paths:

/etc/dirsrv/admin-serv/httpd.conf
/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

I tried to edit them adding the extra information to the Virtual Host:
SSLCertificateFile mycert
SSLCertificateKeyFile mykey

When I tried to restart Apache however, it says that SSLCertificateFile is an invalid command.

Note: I also have an nss.conf file, which contains some information about Virtual Hosts.

Answer 1

If it's barking that 'SSLCertificateFile' is a invalid directive, then you don't have mod_ssl loaded. You need a line somewhere in your config that looks similar to this:

LoadModule ssl_module   libexec/apache22/mod_ssl.so

(That particular line is from a FreeBSD box, so it's unlikely to work without minor modification)

You should usually put the SSL information in the vhost's directive; but a very simple site could go something like this:

ServerName example.com

Listen 80
Listen 443

LoadModule ssl_module   libexec/apache22/mod_ssl.so
LoadModule the other modules go in here...

User www
Group www

DocumentRoot /path/to/site

SSLCertificateFile /path/to/cert
SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/key
SSLCertificateChainFile /path/to/chain

<VirtualHost *:443>
    SSLEngine on
</VirtualHost>

This is what the config for my person site looks like (plus some security, logging, and other junk like that).

Answer 2

I think it's better for you to put the SSL information inside the vhost that will use it, just for organization's sake. Also remember that mod_ssl has to be enabled on apache for the SSLEngine, SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile to work.

# a2enmod ssl

Will normally enable the module automatically in debian based distributions.