VPS v2 Support Documentation

Installing your Custom Digital Certificate

Once you have a obtained a signed digital certificate, you need to install it and set up SSL to use your certificate and private key instead of the default.

When you got your certificate, you most likely saved it to a file on your local computer. You will need to copy the file onto your Virtual Private Server via FTP. Be sure to copy the file using ASCII format to avoid corrupting the file. Copy the file to the /usr/local/certs/ directory with the name ssl.cert.

If your signing authority provided you with a Certificate Authority file, you should also copy it to the /usr/local/certs/ directory.

Once the certificate is on your server, get the Private Key, which you generated at the same time as you generated the CSR, and confirm it is in the /usr/local/certs/ directory with the name ssl.pk. Make sure to keep a copy of the Private Key in a different location as well so if you make a mistake you don't lose your Private Key. You may want to create a directory on your Virtual Private Server and store a copy of both your Private Key and the Certificate until you are certain that the new certificate is working properly.

With both files in place, connect to your Virtual Private Server via SSH or Telnet and run the following commands as root.

# cd /usr/local/certs

# openssl rsa -in ssl.pk -out ssl.pk

The openssl rsa command removes the default encryption on your key, and makes it useable by the Apache Web Server. You can tell if your Private Key has been decrypted or not by looking at the file. When your key was generated, the first few lines should have looked similar to the following.

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,BCC23A5E16582F3D

hfWyPkea3gnVCHCZJ/zgQpCH9RZF7WjYXGYohdbfkJY0ETLwXaqjvnNHQlLomwIt

After decrypting your key, the key should have changed to look similar to the following.

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

You now need to create a PEM file that contains both the certificate and key. To do this, run the following commands:

# cd /usr/local/certs

# cp ssl.pk YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME.pem

# cat ssl.cert >> YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME.pem

If you intend to use your SSL certificate with E-Mail as well, you will need to make links so that the POP and IMAP will be able to find the file as well:

# ln /usr/local/certs/YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME.pem /usr/local/certs/imapd.pem

# ln /usr/local/certs/YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME.pem /usr/local/certs/ipop3d.pem

Edit your httpd.conf file (located in the /usr/local/apache/conf directory) to look for your certificate file by adding the following command:

SSLCertificateFile /usr/local/certs/MY-DOMAIN.NAME.pem

Once you have added the certificate directive to your httpd.conf file, you need to run restart_apache to make Apache start using the new certificate.

Check to make sure the new certificate is working by connecting to the domain your certificate is set up to use via HTTPS. For example, if your domain name were www.my-domain.name, you would type the following into your browser's location bar.

https://www.my-domain.name

If the page loads without any errors, find the lock icon on your browser and click on it (depending on your browser, you may need to double-click). This will bring up the certificate information, or a window that lets you view certificate information. Check to see that the certificate is using the correct domain name and has the correct information.

If you get an error trying to view the page, see the Troubleshooting Certificate Installation Problems page to help you get the certificate working.

You can now configure your E-Mail client to use SSL.