When it comes to use SSL over apache, OpenSSL is there for us to do everything we want. XAMPP and WAMP both comes with OpenSSL compiled version of Apache, so it becomes quite handy to use it. But how to get SSL certificate for your website?For getting SSL certificate you need to ask your hosting company if you are running on shared server and don't have access to apache installation directory and config files. Most of the hosting companies will do this for you with some amount of fee. Fee/cost depends on the kind of certificate you are requesting and for the period of time. For example www.domain.com certificates will be quite cheaper then *.domain.com.
Now if you are running and managing your own webserver and you have to get certificate(s) for your company/client or your own website then first requirement is to generate "Certificate Signing Request" - CSR file, which you need to send to Certificate Authority to sign and give back to you as CRT file. This tutorial is not meant for Apache expert but for those who have not much experience SSL and Apache stuff.
Generation of CSR files with Apache on OpenSSL is quite simple and it is matter of typing few commands and we are done. You need to follow similar commands on OpenSSL prompt whether you are running Apache over Windows or Linux. Here is the routine which we need to follow to get our .CSR file ready.
If you have your Apache setup ready with OpenSSL then goto BIN directory under your Apache's installation directory. If you are on Windows machine then it could be under D:\Program Files\Apache\bin and if it is Linux you know better where to find it. Open Command Prompt and goto Apache's BIN directory and then type "openssl" over there. You will get OpenSSL prompt immediately. You may need not to goto Apache/Bin directory if that path is set in your system variables, you can just type openssl and you will get the prompt like below. Read the rest of this entry »
