Configuring multiple SSL sites

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Configuring apache for SSL virtual-hosting using httpd.conf and ssl.conf modification

To configure SSL virtual-hosting one can use following steps:

1. Install mod_ssl using 'yum -y install mod_ssl'
2. Edit '/etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf' and set correct values for:

   SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.crt
   SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.key
   SSLCACertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/ca-bundle.pem

3. Edit '/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf' file and append following configuration

   NameVirtualHost *:443
   
   <VirtualHost *:443>
   
   <Appropriate virtual-host configuration>
   
   SSLEngine on
   SSLProtocol all -SSLv2 -SSLv3
   SSLHonorCipherOrder on
   SSLCipherSuite "EECDH+ECDSA+AESGCM EECDH+aRSA+AESGCM EECDH+ECDSA+SHA384 EECDH+ECDSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+SHA384 EECDH+aRSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+RC4 EECDH EDH+aRSA !RC4 !aNULL !eNULL !LOW !3DES !MD5 !EXP !PSK !SRP !DSS"
   </VirtualHost>

Working of HTTPS

During a HTTPS communication first a secure channel is established which required exchange of certificates. In most cases server has no idea which virtual-host would be communicated with and hence can server only one single HTTPS certificate. This is no longer true for modern browsers which support SNI. Refer https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-multiple-ssl-certificates-on-one-ip-with-apache-on-ubuntu-12-04

Configuring mod gnutls for supporting multiple SSL virtualhosts

This is no longer required. mod_ssl seems to handle multiple SSL virtual-hosts with different certificates with help of SNI extensions pretty well.

mod_gnutls allows us to have multiple HTTPS virtual hosts on same physical server with single IP address and multiple domain names. The certificate should be wildcard certificate like for *.iiit.ac.in, so that we can host any hostname with suffix iiit.ac.in with same certificate.

Installing and configuring mod_gnutls on Cent-OS

1. Install libgpg-error from ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/libgpg-error
2. Compile and install libgcrypt from source. Take libgcrypt from ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/libgcrypt
3. rm /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/*tls*
4. cp /usr/lib64/libgnutls* /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/
5. Configure and make mod_gnutls from http://linux.wareseeker.com/download/mod-gnutls-0.2.0.rar/319193. Do not make install
6. cp src/.libs/libmod_gnutls.so /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/
7. cp data/{rsa,dh}file /etc/httpd/conf (Very important step. Do not miss)
8. cd /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/
9. mv libmod_gnutls.so mod_gnutls.so
10. Put LoadModule gnutls_module modules/mod_gnutls.so in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
11. Put

    AddType application/x-x509-ca-cert .crt
    AddType application/x-pkcs7-crl    .crl

    in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

12. mkdir -m 0700 /var/cache/mod_gnutls_cache
13. chown apache:apache /var/cache/mod_gnutls_cache
14. Put

    GnuTLSCache dbm "/var/cache/mod_gnutls_cache"
    GnuTLSCacheTimeout 300

    in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

15. Do configuration in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf for 443 virtualhosts like

    NameVirtualHost *:443
    <VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerAdmin a@b.com
    DocumentRoot /home/test1/html
    ServerName test1.barjatiya.com
    ErrorLog logs/test1.barjatiya.com-error_log
    CustomLog logs/test1.barjatiya.com-access_log common
    SSLEngine on
    SSLProtocol all -SSLv2
    SSLCipherSuite ALL:!ADH:!EXPORT:!SSLv2:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/test1.pem
    </VirtualHost>

    where Certificate can be generated using openssl req -new -x509 -days 999 -nodes -out apache.pem -keyout apache.pem

    Do chown root:apache /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and chmod 640 /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf so that normal users cannot read httpd.conf file when using virtual hosting

16. Comment VirtualHost setting in /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

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