Setting up SSL Certificates on Apache

Apache, imap, and exim all support ssl connections. Because I want webmail connections to be encrypted, so that passwords are not sent over the internet in plain text, I needed to create a key and a certificate for apache. For testing purposes I am going to be my own certificate authority. This will most likely be changed for the production server. You don't have to use any certificate authority - see http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/SSL-RedHat-HOWTO.html

Note: The author of this page, and owner of this web site, is not to be held liable for any damage or trouble arrising from following these directions. You are responsible for your own security, use, and creation of certificates.

See http://www.eclectica.ca/ssl-cert-howto.php for much more information. (Much of what I cover here was learned from this page.)

Quick steps:

1. Setup and create root certificate.
2. Create a key and signing request.
3. Sign the request.
4. Copy to the correct location.
5. Edit the apache config file.
6. Restart apache.
7. Tips.

The following covers the command-line way of doing it. If you are using a GUI, it should be fairly simple to follow along.

Note: I am running Red Hat Linux 8.0, apache 2.x with mod_ssl, and openssl 0.9.x. Steps vary slightly when you are using a certificate authority.

Source: http://www.flatmtn.com/article/setting-ssl-certificates-apache