Generating self-signed SSL certificate for apache on Windows Vista

Question

I do not have any idea how to generate self-signed SSL certificate for Apache on Windows Vista, but I have to do that.

How I can do that?

Answer 1

You can install OpenSSL for Windows, which is free.

After installation, open command line (cmd.exe), go to installation directory and run appropriate openssl commands.

openssl.exe req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout server.key -out server.crt -days 1000 -nodes

This generates server.key (private key for your Apache) and server.crt (self-signed certificate). Remember to protect your private key.

For installation to Apache2 (in Linux):

sudo a2enmod ssl
sudo a2ensite default-ssl
nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/default-ssl

Change correct paths to following lines (paths to your new key and certificate):

SSLCertificateFile    /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key

Save and run /etc/init.d/apache2 restart (or if your distribution uses some different way, not that command).