How to setup SSL on Apache Server

A newer and hopefully more often updated version of this HOWTO which also covers Apache 2 is available from http://raibledesigns.com/tomcat/ssl-howto.html.

Overview

This page describes the installation of the Win32 version of Apache with the mod_ssl extension. The newest version should always be available from http://tud.at/programm/apache-ssl-win32-howto.php3.
This process worked for many people on Windows NT, 98, ME, 2000 and XP.

1.: Installing Apache

Get the Win32 version of the Apache web server from one of the mirrors. It is called something like apache_x_y_z_win32.exe. This is a self-extracting archive that contains the Apache base system and sample configuration files.

Don't mix Apache versions 1.3 and 2! It won't work. If you find 1.3.x on modssl.org, you cannot expect it to work with 2.0.x.

Install Apache as described in http://www.apache.org/docs/windows.html.

Note: You can skip this step and get a full Apache+SSL distribution from modssl.org, as described below. There will be no fancy installation program but you won't need to overwrite the stock Apache files. This is the better way if you are experienced and don't fear editing configuration files (which you will need to do anyway).

Change at least the following parameters in Apache-dir/conf/httpd.conf:
[Replace all occurences of www.my-server.dom with the real domain name!]

• Port 80 to # Port 80 (Comment it out; Port is not necessary, Listen overrides it later.)
• (if not in addition to IIS) Listen 80
• Listen 443 (So your server listens on the standard SSL port)
• ServerName www.my-server.dom
• (if in addition to IIS) DocumentRoot and the corresponding <Directory some-dir> to your Inetpub\wwwroot

Install the Apache service (NT/2000 only) and start the server. Verify that everything works before proceeding to the SSL installation because this limits the possible errors.

Try http://www.my-server.dom:443/. It won't be encrypted yet but if this works then the port configuration (port 443) is right.

2.: Getting OpenSSL and mod_ssl

Go to http://www.modssl.org/contrib/ or http://hunter.campbus.com/ and find a file called like Apache_X-mod_ssl_Y-openssl_Z-WIN32[-i386].zip. Download and unzip it to a new directory.
If you need the newest version, you will have to compile it yourself if it is not there. Don't ask me about it; I don't have it, I don't compile the versions on modssl.org, and I don't have access to development tools on Win32.

Copy the files ssleay32.dll and libeay32.dll from the Apache/modssl distribution directory to WINNT\System32. This is important! About 70 % of the e-mails I receive is because people forget to do this. If you don't find those files or openssl.exe in the apache zip, get a file called like openssl-version-win32.zip from one of the download sites.

You'll need a config file for OpenSSL.exe. Here is one (right-click on it and "Save as..."). (There is an openssl.cnf in the distribution with different wording of some questions, but it should do it, too.) Copy it to the directory openssl.exe is in.
(This is a normal text file. It is really called so; however, some Windows versions insist on hiding the extension from you. You can edit it with Windows notepad or a good editor, but it shouldn't be necessary.)

3.: Creating a test certificate

The following instructions are from http://www.apache-ssl.org/#FAQ.

openssl req -config openssl.cnf -new -out my-server.csr
This creates a certificate signing request and a private key. When asked for "Common Name (eg, your websites domain name)", give the exact domain name of your web server (e.g. www.my-server.dom). The certificate belongs to this server name and browsers complain if the name doesn't match.

openssl rsa -in privkey.pem -out my-server.key
This removes the passphrase from the private key. You MUST understand what this means; my-server.key should be only readable by the apache server and the administrator.
You should delete the .rnd file because it contains the entropy information for creating the key and could be used for cryptographic attacks against your private key.

openssl x509 -in my-server.csr -out my-server.cert -req -signkey my-server.key -days 365
This creates a self-signed certificate that you can use until you get a "real" one from a certificate authority. (Which is optional; if you know your users, you can tell them to install the certificate into their browsers.) Note that this certificate expires after one year, you can increase -days 365 if you don't want this.

If you have users with MS Internet Explorer 4.x and want them to be able to install the certificate into their certificate storage (by downloading and opening it), you need to create a DER-encoded version of the certificate:
openssl x509 -in my-server.cert -out my-server.der.crt -outform DER

Create an Apache/conf/ssl directory and move my-server.key and my-server.cert into it.

4.: Configuring Apache and mod_ssl

Copy the executable files (*.exe, *.dll, *.so) from the downloaded apache-mod_ssl distribution over your original Apache installation directory (remember to stop Apache first and DO NOT overwrite your edited config files etc.!).

Find the LoadModule directives in your httpd.conf file and add this after the existing ones, according to the file you have found in the distribution:

LoadModule ssl_module modules/ApacheModuleSSL.dll
or
LoadModule ssl_module modules/ApacheModuleSSL.so
or
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
in newer versions.

In newer versions of the distribution, it could also be necessary to add
AddModule mod_ssl.c
after the AddModule lines that are already in the config file.

Add the following to the end of httpd.conf:

# see http://www.modssl.org/docs/2.8/ssl_reference.html for more info

SSLMutex sem

SSLRandomSeed startup builtin

SSLSessionCache none

SSLLog logs/SSL.log

SSLLogLevel info

# You can later change "info" to "warn" if everything is OK

<VirtualHost www.my-server.dom:443>

SSLEngine On

SSLCertificateFile conf/ssl/my-server.cert

SSLCertificateKeyFile conf/ssl/my-server.key

</VirtualHost>

Don't forget to call apache with -D SSL if the IfDefine directive is active in the config file!

You might need to use regedit to change the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Apache Group\Apache\X.Y.Z to the correct number if the apache.exe from modssl.org/contrib is not the same version as the previously installed one. (This seems not to be necessary with recent versions.)

Also, if you use IfDefine directives and start apache as a service, you need to edit the apache command line in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Apache2) (I haven't tried this).

Start the server, this time from the command prompt (not as a service) in order to see the error messages that prevent Apache from starting. If everything is OK, (optionally) press CTRL+C to stop the server and start it as a service if you prefer.
If it doesn't work, Apache should write meaningful messages to the screen and/or into the error.log and SSL.log files in the Apache/logs directory.
If something doesn't work, set all LogLevels to the maximum and look into the logfiles. They are very helpful.

Links

Apache Web Server: http://www.apache.org
mod_ssl: http://www.modssl.org
mod_ssl configuration: http://www.modssl.org/docs/2.8/ssl_reference.html
OpenSSL: http://www.openssl.org
PHP Hypertext preprocessor: http://www.php.net