How To Create a SSL Certificate on Nginx for Ubuntu.pptx

HOW TO CREATE A SSL CERTIFICATE ON
NGINX FOR UBUNTU
• Security is always very important when it comes to any type internet communication.
• SSL certificates are one way to get higher level of security for web servers.
• When a web server runs using secure protocols, it is using public and private keys in order to encrypt the traffic.
• The traffic is encrypted on the server, then send to the client (still encrypted) and then it is decrypted at client’s side (using
the certificates).
• This actually makes data unreadable for any potential intruder.
• The SSL certificates are usually issued by certificate authority but we can create our own, self-signed certificates as well.
• In order to create SSL certificate for Nginx, the first think to do is to make sure that we have Nginx already installed:
# sudo apt-get install nginx

NGINX FOR UBUNTU
• Before we proceed and create certificates, we should crate directory where are going to store the certificates and access
them later. We will create the directory inside Nginx installation folder:
# sudo mkdir /etc/nginx/ssl
• Once the directory is created, we will perform all the required steps, inside that directory so all output files will be saved
there.
# cd /etc/nginx/ssl
• The first file that we need to create is the private key. While creating the key, we will be asked for a passphrase. We must
make sure to remember the passphrase since we will not be able to access the certificate without it. We will remove the
passphrase later though. The following command will generate the private key:
# sudo openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024

NGINX FOR UBUNTU
• Once we have the key created, we will use the key on order to create Certificate Signing Request:
# sudo openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
• After we execute this command, we will be prompt to enter some information, like Country, Company, Address, Email and
possible some other fileds..
• We should fill in the information properly since that information will be visible to the public once the certificate is created
and used on our website.
• The most important is “common name” value.
• Our fully qualified domain name should be entered here. We leave the optional company name and challenge password
blank.

NGINX FOR UBUNTU
• Now that we have the .key and .csr file, we are ready to create the certificate.
• Having the passphrase on the key file adds extra security, but it might be inconvenient In case of automatic server reboot
or similar situations.
• If we have a passphrase it has to be typed in manually, so if there is not person available to do it, the website will be
offline for a long time.
• That is why we are going to remove the passphrase from the key file, using the following commands:
# sudo cp server.key server.key.org
# sudo openssl rsa -in server.key.org -out server.key
• Now we are ready to create and sign our certificate:
# sudo openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out
server.crt

NGINX FOR UBUNTU
• It will be valid for 1 year (365 days). That is something that can be changed if needed.
• Now we can use the certificate and assign to a virtual host.
• We can copy the Nginx sample configuration file in a new file and use that. Most important section in the file is the
following:
server {
listen 443;
server_name our-domain.com;
root /var/www;
index index.html index.htm;
ssl on;
ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/server.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/server.key;
}

NGINX FOR UBUNTU
• After making the changes and saving the file, we should copy the virtual host configuration file
into /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ and then restart Nginx.
# sudo service nginx restart
• After then restart, if we point our browser to https://our-domain.com we will be able to find the certificate on the page.
That’s it. We have added the certificates and all traffic on our website is now encrypted.

How To Create a SSL Certificate on Nginx for Ubuntu.pptx

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How To Create a SSL Certificate on Nginx for Ubuntu.pptx