Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@LittleCoding
Forked from nrollr/ApacheHTTPSConfig.md
Last active June 12, 2018 15:16
Show Gist options
  • Save LittleCoding/1e7b88f3bd79e01577a5782b2685a46f to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save LittleCoding/1e7b88f3bd79e01577a5782b2685a46f to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Enable SSL in Apache for 'localhost' (macOS, High Sierra)

Enable SSL in Apache (OSX)

The following will guide you through the process of enabling SSL on a Apache webserver

  • The instructions have been verified with macOS High Sierra (10.13.4) running Apache 2.4.29
  • 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)"

Apache SSL Configuration

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

Apache Configuration

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

Apache Virtual Host Configuration

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
</VirtualHost>

Finally restart Apache using Terminal.app : sudo apachectl restart
Open Safari and visit https://localhost to verify your configuration.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment