This is the page of the MemberManual that describes how to generate a valid SSL cert.

TableOfContents

Making a cert for use with Domtool

If you are creating an SSL certificate to use for a web virtual host via DomTool, then you should generate a single output file instead of separate .crt and .key files.

Here is an example. DAYS indicates the number of days that you want the certificate to be valid. FILE is the filename of the certificate that will be generated: it should end in ".pem". The certificate should be placed somewhere in your home directory, like "~/certs", for example.

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout FILE -out FILE -days DAYS -nodes

Here is an explanation of the parameters that you will be asked to provide. Replace yourdomain.org with your domain name.

• Country/State/Locality: These are self-explanatory.

• Organization Name: This can be anything you want. It is often the full name or description of your organization or website.

• Organizational Unit: This can be anything you want. It can be left blank.

• Common Name: This is the domain that goes with the certificate. It can be either a single name (i.e. "yourdomain.org"), or a wildcard domain (like "*.yourdomain.org"). The wildcard domain is used for sharing the same certificate in multiple subdomains of your domain.

• Email Address: A valid email address. People often use ca@yourdomain.org.

This file should be readable only by you and your ".daemon" alter ego, so be sure to set permissions properly on the directory where you store the certificate.

Making a self-signed cert

To create a self-signed SSL cerificate in file.crt with key in file.key, you can run:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout file.key -out file.crt -days 9999 -nodes