Apache/SSL - Revision history

Admin: /* Why free certificates are a big deal */

2017-03-25T19:56:19Z

Why free certificates are a big deal

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:56, 25 March 2017
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	Back in the old days, before Let's Encrypt, you had to sign your own certificate, since a signed certificate from a certificate authority could set you back a couple thousand dollars a year. That was also back when encryption was less common, because the computational cost of encrypting all of your traffic on a connection with a website was not cheap for clients or for servers. This meant HTTPS came at a premium, and was a valuable/limited/protected resource.		Back in the old days, before Let's Encrypt, you had to sign your own certificate, since a signed certificate from a certificate authority could set you back a couple thousand dollars a year. That was also back when encryption was less common, because the computational cost of encrypting all of your traffic on a connection with a website was not cheap for clients or for servers. This meant HTTPS came at a premium, and was a valuable/limited/protected resource.

	But computers are constantly getting faster, eventually encryption become commonplace everywhere, and more people wanted certificates at a reasonable price. So eventually certificates signed by new certificate authorities dropped to the $20-$100 range, and now, with Let's Encrypt, they're free.		But computers are constantly getting faster, eventually encryption become commonplace everywhere, and more people wanted certificates at a reasonable price. So eventually certificates signed by new certificate authorities dropped to the $20-$100 range, and now, with Let's Encrypt, they're free. That means the process of encrypting connections with servers has become more democratic, more accessible, and more pervasive, and that's good for everyone's privacy.

Admin: /* Overview */

2017-03-25T19:54:48Z

Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 25 March 2017
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	SSL, or secure socket layer, is a way for computers to establish encrypted connections. The SSL server requires an SSL certificate, which consists of a public and private key, that is generated and signed by a trusted certificate authority. The owner of the server controls the keys, which allows clients to establish SSL connections with them and trust that it is, in fact, the server they think it is.		SSL, or secure socket layer, is a way for computers to establish encrypted connections. The SSL server requires an SSL certificate, which consists of a public and private key, that is generated and signed by a trusted certificate authority. The owner of the server controls the keys, which allows clients to establish SSL connections with them and trust that it is, in fact, the server they think it is.

			==Apache mod_ssl==

	Apache serves https using a mod called mod_ssl, documentation is here: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/ssl/		Apache serves https using a mod called mod_ssl, documentation is here: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/ssl/
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	</VirtualHost>		</VirtualHost>
	</pre>		</pre>

			==Why free certificates are a big deal==

	Back in the old days, before Let's Encrypt, you had to sign your own certificate, since a signed certificate from a certificate authority could set you back a couple thousand dollars a year. That was also back when encryption was less common, because the computational cost of encrypting all of your traffic on a connection with a website was not cheap for clients or for servers. This meant HTTPS came at a premium, and was a valuable/limited/protected resource.		Back in the old days, before Let's Encrypt, you had to sign your own certificate, since a signed certificate from a certificate authority could set you back a couple thousand dollars a year. That was also back when encryption was less common, because the computational cost of encrypting all of your traffic on a connection with a website was not cheap for clients or for servers. This meant HTTPS came at a premium, and was a valuable/limited/protected resource.

	But computers are constantly getting faster, eventually encryption become commonplace everywhere, and more people wanted certificates at a reasonable price. So eventually certificates signed by new certificate authorities dropped to the $20-$100 range, and now, with Let's Encrypt, they're free.		But computers are constantly getting faster, eventually encryption become commonplace everywhere, and more people wanted certificates at a reasonable price. So eventually certificates signed by new certificate authorities dropped to the $20-$100 range, and now, with Let's Encrypt, they're free.



			[[Category:Encryption]]
			[[Category:Privacy]]
			[[Category:Apache]]
			[[Category:SSL]]
			[[Category:HTTPS]]

Admin at 19:54, 25 March 2017

2017-03-25T19:54:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 25 March 2017
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	</pre>		</pre>

	and can be turned on by adding the following to your apache config file:		and can be turned on by adding the following to your apache config file:

	<pre>		<pre>

Admin: Created page with "=Overview= SSL, or secure socket layer, is a way for computers to establish encrypted connections. The SSL server requires an SSL certificate, which consists of a public and..."

2017-03-25T19:53:08Z

Created page with "=Overview= SSL, or secure socket layer, is a way for computers to establish encrypted connections. The SSL server requires an SSL certificate, which consists of a public and..."

New page

=Overview=

SSL, or secure socket layer, is a way for computers to establish encrypted connections. The SSL server requires an SSL certificate, which consists of a public and private key, that is generated and signed by a trusted certificate authority. The owner of the server controls the keys, which allows clients to establish SSL connections with them and trust that it is, in fact, the server they think it is.

Apache serves https using a mod called mod_ssl, documentation is here: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/ssl/

The mod_ssl Apache mod requires installing [http://www.openssl.org/ OpenSSL]:

<pre>
$ apt-get install openssl
</pre>

and can be turned on by adding the following to your apache config file:

<pre>
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
</pre>

Just below that, add a block specifying configuration details:

<pre>
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

Listen 443
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName www.example.com
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile "/path/to/www.example.com.cert"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "/path/to/www.example.com.key"
</VirtualHost>
</pre>

Back in the old days, before Let's Encrypt, you had to sign your own certificate, since a signed certificate from a certificate authority could set you back a couple thousand dollars a year. That was also back when encryption was less common, because the computational cost of encrypting all of your traffic on a connection with a website was not cheap for clients or for servers. This meant HTTPS came at a premium, and was a valuable/limited/protected resource.

But computers are constantly getting faster, eventually encryption become commonplace everywhere, and more people wanted certificates at a reasonable price. So eventually certificates signed by new certificate authorities dropped to the $20-$100 range, and now, with Let's Encrypt, they're free.