How to Create Apache Self Signed SSL Certificate Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Introduction: -
SSL is an essential part of creating a secure Apache website. SSL certificates allow you encrypt all the traffic sent to and from your Apache website to prevent others from viewing all of the traffic. It uses public key cryptography to establish a secure connection. This means that anything encrypted with a public key (the SSL certificate) can only be decrypted with the private key (stored only on the server) and vice versa.

Prerequisites: -

Before start creating SSL certificate, following are the prerequisites:

1- Sudo privileges user

2- Installed Apache

3- Installed OpenSSL

Step 1: Install Apache

We need to install Apache web server if don't have already. This can be done by using the command below.

root@US16:~# apt install apache2

Step 2: Install OpenSSL

 We need OpenSSL to generate a self-signed certificate, Use the command below to install it.

root@US16:~# apt install openssl

Step 3: Create Virtual Host

First, We need to have a Virtual Host where we will install our Self-Signed Certificate, follow the steps below to setup new VHost.

3A-  Create a directory to store VHost data

root@US16:~# mkdir -p /var/www/html/vhost1

3B- Create VHost and add configuration

root@US16:~# vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/vhost1.conf

Append below VHost configuration in the file vhost1.conf 

    ServerAdmin amar.singh@outlook.in
    ServerName vhost1.org
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/vhost1/
    ErrorLog /var/www/html/vhost1/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /var/www/html/vhost1/logs/access.log combined
/var/www/html/vhost1/>
    Options All
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted

Save and Exit from the file.

3C- Create a simple HTML file

root@US16:~# vi /var/www/html/vhost1/index.html

Add some text to the file 

This is Vhost1 !!Testing!!

Save and Exit from the file

3D- Enable created VHost 

root@US16:~# a2ensite vhost1.conf
Enabling site vhost1.
To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
  service apache2 reload
root@US16:~#

3E- Reload Apache service to apply changes

root@US16:~# service apache2 reload

3F- Test VHost by hitting Server name- http://vhost1.org/

By hitting URL- http://vhost1.org/ you will get output like below

Step 4: Create the SSL Certificate

SSL is a combination of Public and Private Key, Private Key stored only on the Server. 

Let's create Certificate by using the single command below:

root@US16:~# openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/vhost1.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/vhost1.crt
Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
.........+++
..+++
writing new private key to '/etc/ssl/private/vhost1.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:IN
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:Delhi
Locality Name (eg, city) []:South Ex
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:ISTM
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:IT
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:vhost1.org
Email Address []:amar.singh@outlook.in
root@US16:~#

You will be prompted to enter your organisational information and a common name. The common name should be the fully qualified domain name for the site you are securing (www.mydomain.com). You can leave the email address, challenge password, and optional company name blank. When the command is finished running, it will create two files: a mysitename.key file and a mysitename.crt self-signed certificate file valid for 365 days.

Step 5: Configure Apache to use SSL

5A- Enable Port listening 

root@US16:~# vi /etc/apache2/ports.conf

Add the highlighted line to the ports.conf file.

Listen 80
Listen 443


        Listen 443



        Listen 443

Save and Exit from the File

5B- Enable SSL module

root@US16:~# a2enmod ssl

5C-  Change VHost Configuration

root@US16:~# vi /etc/apache2/sites-available/vhost1.conf

Append line below in the conf file

DocumentRoot /var/www/html/vhost1/
ServerName vhost1.org
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/vhost1.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/vhost1.key

Save and Exit from the File

5C- Restart Apache service to apply changes.

root@US16:~# service apache2 restart

Step 6: Test installed SSL certificate 

To validate installed SSL certificate access website by hitting URL- https://vhost1.org/

Once everything goes well you will get output like below:

SSL Certificate has been installed successfully, let's proceed it by clicking on the Advanced button and add it to the exception to view the website. 

Once done you will get the output as bellow:

!!! Self-signed SSL has been configured successfully !!!