Configure Apache2 for SSL on SLES

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If you have installed SLES (but not OES), typically SSL is not enabled. There are many articles on the Internet that deal with this, but they always seem so convoluted, and seem to expect that admins have more knowledge of Apache than they actually do. So, here’s a quick and easy how-to on getting this accomplished. While we aren’t going to assume you know a lot about Apache, it is assumed that you can get to a terminal window!

First, go to a terminal window and type:

a2enmod -l

You should see something like this:

authz_host actions alias auth_basic authz_groupfile authn_file authz_user autoindex cgi dir include log_config mime negotiation setenvif status userdir asis imagemap ssl php5 authz_default proxy proxy_ajp

If you do not see ssl in this list (in our case right in front of php5), type this:

a2enmod ssl

You will see a notice that Module ssl installed

Now, go to /etc/apache2/vhosts.d

copy vhost-ssl.template to vhost-ssl.conf

Using your text editor of choice, edit the info as needed in vhost-ssl.conf – for example, make sure the SSL Engine Switch is turn on:

SSLEngine on

Next, find the section for the certificate files. It should look like this:

SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/servercerts/servercert.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/servercerts/serverkey.pem

In this instance, we are simply using the the default server certificate files to show you how to do this. If you are purchasing trusted certificates from a commercial certificate authority, put the files you receive from them in a location accessible to Apache2 and use those file paths. If your official certificates have an intermediary certificate, you may also need a line like

SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/gd_bundle.crt

Next run /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload to enable.

Troubleshooting:

check /etc/sysconfig/apache to make sure ssl is in the modules list