The following will guide you through the process of enabling SSL on a Apache webserver
- The instructions have been verified with OSX El Capitan (10.11.2) running Apache 2.4.16
- The instructions assume you already have a basic Apache configuration enabled on OSX, if this is not the case feel free to consult Gist: "Enable Apache HTTP server (OSX)"
Create a directory within /etc/apache2/
using Terminal.app: sudo mkdir /etc/apache2/ssl
Next, generate two host keys:
sudo openssl genrsa -out /etc/apache2/server.key 2048
sudo openssl genrsa -out /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.key 2048
sudo openssl rsa -in /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.key -out /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.key.rsa
Create a configuration file using Terminal.app: sudo touch /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.conf
Edit the newly created configuration file and add the following:
[req]
default_bits = 1024
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
req_extensions = v3_req
[req_distinguished_name]
[v3_req]
basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
keyUsage = nonRepudiation, digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
subjectAltName = @alt_names
[alt_names]
DNS.1 = localhost
DNS.2 = *.localhost
Generate the required Certificate Requests using Terminal.app:
sudo openssl req -new -key /etc/apache2/server.key -subj "/C=/ST=/L=/O=/CN=/emailAddress=/" -out /etc/apache2/server.csr
sudo openssl req -new -key /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.key.rsa -subj "/C=/ST=/L=/O=/CN=localhost/" -out /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.csr -config /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.conf
Note: Complete the values C= ST= L= O= CN=
to reflect your own organizational structure, where:
C=
eq. Country: The two-letter ISO abbreviation for your country.ST=
eq. State or Province: The state or province where your organization is legally located.L=
eq. City or Locality: The city where your organization is legally located.O=
eq. Organization: he exact legal name of your organization.CN=
eq. Common Name: The fully qualified domain name for your web server
Use the Certificate Requests to sign the SSL Certificates using Terminal.app:
sudo openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in /etc/apache2/server.csr -signkey /etc/apache2/server.key -out /etc/apache2/server.crt
sudo openssl x509 -req -extensions v3_req -days 365 -in /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.csr -signkey /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.key.rsa -out /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.crt -extfile /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.conf
Add the SSL Certificate to Keychain Access.
sudo security add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.crt
Edit the Apache main configuration file /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
and enable the required modules to support SSL :
LoadModule socache_shmcb_module libexec/apache2/mod_socache_shmcb.so
LoadModule ssl_module libexec/apache2/mod_ssl.so
Enable Secure (SSL/TLS) connections
Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
Edit the Virtual Hosts file /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
and add the SSL Directive at the end of the file:
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName localhost
DocumentRoot "/Library/WebServer/Documents"
SSLEngine on
SSLCipherSuite ALL:!ADH:!EXPORT56:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW:+SSLv2:+EXP:+eNULL
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/localhost.key
<Directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Finally restart Apache using Terminal.app : sudo apachectl restart
Open Safari and visit https://localhost to verify your configuration.