This chapter provides basic information on the Apache HTTP
Server with the mod_ssl security module
enabled to use the OpenSSL library and toolkit. The combination of
these three components are referred to in this chapter as the
secure Web server or just as the secure server.
The mod_ssl module is a security
module for the Apache HTTP Server. The mod_ssl module uses the tools provided by the
OpenSSL Project to add a very important feature to the Apache HTTP
Server — the ability to encrypt communications. In contrast,
regular HTTP communications between a browser and a Web server are
sent in plain text, which could be intercepted and read by someone
along the route between the browser and the server.
This chapter is not meant to be complete and exclusive
documentation for any of these programs. When possible, this guide
points to appropriate places where you can find more in-depth
documentation on particular subjects.
This chapter shows you how to install these programs. You can
also learn the steps necessary to generate a private key and a
certificate request, how to generate your own self-signed
certificate, and how to install a certificate to use with your
secure server.
The mod_ssl configuration file is
located at /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf.
For this file to be loaded, and hence for mod_ssl to work, you must have the statement
Include conf.d/*.conf in the
/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file. This
statement is included by default in the default Apache HTTP Server
configuration file.
