How to Create a Web Certificate

A Web certificate is a Web document that certifies the identity of the website owner to the page that is opened in a browser. It assures visitors to your website that they have not been rerouted to a harmful site. Web certificates can be purchased, but they are often given out with a website when it is bought. It is also possible to make a Web certificate using Unix code and an OpenSSL software, such as what you would find on Unix. Be wary, however; some browsers will not accept self-signed certificates. They seem suspicious.

• 1

  Open Apache and OpenSSL.

• 2

  Type in

  su -

  mkdir certificates

  chmod 700 certificates

  cd certificates

  This creates an admin password-protected directory.

• 3

  Generate a server key by typing in

  openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 4096

• 4

  Type in a pass phrase when OpenSSL requests it. Type in a long, complicated password and note it down.

• 5

  Create the certificate signing request by typing in:

  openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr

• 6

  Open a server key that does not need a password by typing in:

  openssl rsa -in server.key -out server.key.insecure

  mv server.key server.key.secure

  mv server.key.insecure server.key

• 7

  Sign your certificate by typing in:

  openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt