Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@TopekoX

TopekoX/OpenSSL_Setup.md

Created May 27, 2022 15:36
Show Gist options
  • Save TopekoX/c37282a6563b7b2c889796013a479525 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save TopekoX/c37282a6563b7b2c889796013a479525 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
OpenSSL Setup - Generate key and self-signed certificate
Raw
OpenSSL_Setup.md

OpenSSL Setup - Generate key and self-signed certificate

This document includes instructions for OpenSSL setup. It also includes steps for generating key and self-signed certificate.

There are different steps for each operating system. Choose the steps for your environment.

Free Book: OpenSSL Cookbook

A free book on OpenSSL is available online: OpenSSL Cookbook, by Ivan Ristić

MS Windows

Install OpenSSL

For MS Windows, you need to install OpenSSL

  1. In your web browser, visit the link: https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

  2. In the table, move to the entry: Win64 OpenSSL v1.1.x Light.

  3. Select the MSI download link

  4. Once downloadeded to your computer, run the MSI file

  5. During the installation process, select all of the defaults.

  6. Update your system path environment variable to point to the openssl installation

    a. Open the MS Windows Control Panel

    b. Select System > Advanced System Settings

    c. Click Environment Variables

    d. In the System variables section, select the Path variable and click the Edit button.

    e. At the beginning of the path, add: c:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64\bin;

    NOTE: Be sure to update with the installation directory on your computer accordingly.

    f. Click Ok and proceed to close all of the dialogs.

Verify OpenSSL installation

Let's verify the OpenSSL installation

  1. Open a new command-prompt window.

  2. Type the following command:

    openssl help

  3. You will see the version of openssl installed. If so then openssl is installed successfully. :-)

Generate Key and Self-Signed Certificate

  1. Open a command-prompt window.

  2. Move into the directory of your Angular ecommerce project.

    cd angular-ecommerce

  3. Create a new directory for your output files

    mkdir ssl-localhost

  4. Create a configuration file for the OpenSSL utility.

    a. In the directory: angular-ecommerce

    b. Create a new file named: localhost.conf

  5. Open the localhost.conf file and enter the following:

    [req]
# Don't prompt the user when running openssl certificate generation
prompt = no

# Reference to the section containing the Distinguished Name (information about your company/entity)
distinguished_name = dn

[dn]
# Country, State and Locality (city)
C = US
ST = Pennsylvania
L = Philadelphia

# Organization and Organizational Unit (department name, group name)
O = luv2code
OU = Training

# Common Name (fully qualified domain name of your website server)
CN = localhost

  6. Save the file.

  7. In the terminal window, run this command to generate the key and certificate. Be sure to enter this command as a single line.

    openssl req -x509 -out ssl-localhost\localhost.crt -keyout ssl-localhost\localhost.key -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -sha256 -days 365 -config localhost.conf
    Argument Description
    req -x509 generate X.509 certificate
    -out ssl-localhost/localhost.crt name of output certificate file
    -keyout ssl-localhost/localhost.key name of output key file
    -newkey rsa:2048 create new certificate request and a new private key using algorithm RSA and key size of 2048 bits
    -nodes No DES encryption. The generated private key will not be encrypted
    -sha256 Use the SHA256 message digest to sign the request
    -days 365 Certificate is valid for 365 days
    -config localhost.conf Name of config file

    Detailed docs available here.

  8. This command generates the following output:

    Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
.......+++
...............................+++
writing new private key to 'ssl-localhost/localhost.key'

  9. The command generates two files: localhost.crt and localhost.key.

  10. View the newly generated files in the ssl-locahost directory.

    dir ssl-localhost

    Sample output

    localhost.crt   localhost.key

  11. View the contents of your certificate.

    openssl x509 -noout -text -in ssl-localhost/localhost.crt

    Sample Output

    Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: ...
        Serial Number: 13535095018565170476 (0xbbd6513516bc752c)
    Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
        Issuer: C=US, ST=Pennsylvania, L=Philadelphia, O=luv2code, OU=Training, CN=localhost
        Validity
            Not Before: May 29 21:25:12 2021 GMT
            Not After : May 29 21:25:12 2022 GMT
        Subject: C=US, ST=Pennsylvania, L=Philadelphia, O=luv2code, OU=Training, CN=localhost
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
                Public-Key: (2048 bit)
                ...
                Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)
        X509v3 extensions:
            X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: 
                DNS:localhost
    Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
        a2:9c:22:7c:73:ed:03:3f:ec:00:ce:c0:f6:0b:20:b4:09:6d:
        ...

Congrats! You have successfully generated a key and self-signed certificate. You can now return to the videos and continue with the course.

Mac or Linux

On Mac/Linux, openssl is already included with the operating system. There is nothing additional to install.

Generate Key and Self-Signed Certificate

  1. Open a terminal window.

  2. Move into the directory of your Angular ecommerce project.

    cd angular-ecommerce

  3. Create a new directory for your output files.

    mkdir ssl-localhost

  4. Create a configuration file for the OpenSSL utility.

    a. In the directory: angular-ecommerce

    b. Create a new file named: localhost.conf

  5. Open the localhost.conf file and enter the following:

    [req]
# Don't prompt the user when running openssl certificate generation
prompt = no

# Reference to the section containing the Distinguished Name (information about your company/entity)
distinguished_name = dn

[dn]
# Country, State and Locality (city)
C = US
ST = Pennsylvania
L = Philadelphia

# Organization and Organizational Unit (department name, group name)
O = luv2code
OU = Training

# Common Name (fully qualified domain name of your website server)
CN = localhost

  6. Save the file.

  7. In the terminal window, run this command to generate the key and certificate.

    openssl req -x509 \
  -out ssl-localhost/localhost.crt \
  -keyout ssl-localhost/localhost.key \
  -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -sha256 -days 365 \
  -config localhost.conf
    Argument Description
    req -x509 generate X.509 certificate
    -out ssl-localhost/localhost.crt name of output certificate file
    -keyout ssl-localhost/localhost.key name of output key file
    -newkey rsa:2048 create new certificate request and a new private key using algorithm RSA and key size of 2048 bits
    -nodes No DES encryption. The generated private key will not be encrypted
    -sha256 Use the SHA256 message digest to sign the request
    -days 365 Certificate is valid for 365 days
    -config localhost.conf Name of config file

    Detailed docs available here.

  8. This command will generate the following output:

    Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
.......+++
...............................+++
writing new private key to 'ssl-localhost/localhost.key'

  9. The command generates two files: localhost.crt and localhost.key.

  10. View the newly generated files in the ssl-localhost directory.

    ls ssl-localhost

    Sample output

    localhost.crt   localhost.key

  11. View the contents of your certificate.

    openssl x509 -noout -text -in ssl-localhost/localhost.crt

    Sample Output

    Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: ...
        Serial Number: 13535095018565170476 (0xbbd6513516bc752c)
    Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
        Issuer: C=US, ST=Pennsylvania, L=Philadelphia, O=luv2code, OU=Training, CN=localhost
        Validity
            Not Before: May 29 21:25:12 2021 GMT
            Not After : May 29 21:25:12 2022 GMT
        Subject: C=US, ST=Pennsylvania, L=Philadelphia, O=luv2code, OU=Training, CN=localhost
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
                Public-Key: (2048 bit)
                ...
                Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)
        X509v3 extensions:
            X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: 
                DNS:localhost
    Signature Algorithm: sha256WithRSAEncryption
        a2:9c:22:7c:73:ed:03:3f:ec:00:ce:c0:f6:0b:20:b4:09:6d:
        ...

Congrats! You have successfully generated a key and self-signed certificate. You can now return to the videos and continue with the course.

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