Configuring Apache2.2 + mod_ssl; need an explanation, not a how-to

Question

N00b question, sorry:

I installed Apache 2.2.17 + OpenSSL on a Windows box, and now I'm trying to configure mod_ssl, but I can't. What I did was the following:

Using OpenSSL, create a certificate (C:\my\cert) and a key (C:\my\key).
Uncomment the line LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so in the httpd.config file.

Update extra\httpd.ssl.conf:

<VirtualHost _default_:443>
DocumentRoot "C:/my/document/root"
# ...
SSLEngine on
# ...
SSLCertificateFile "C:/my/cert"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "C:/my/key"
# ...
<Location />
    SSLRequireSSL
</Location>
SSLOptions +StrictRequire

And, at this point, I am stuck. Please someone not only tell me what I have to do, but explain me why I have to do it.

The following line gets added to the errors.log file whenever I try to enter https://mysite/:

[Mon Mar 21 16:49:57 2011] [error] [client 192.168.0.14] Invalid method in request \x16\x03

I assume Apache fails to start. Can we have the error message from your error log? — Bittrance, Mar 21 '11 at 21:43
@Bittrance: Apache does not fail to start, but `https://mysite/` fails to load. — isekaijin, Mar 21 '11 at 21:46

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 21 '11 at 21:55

1

What you're missing is

SSLEngine on

Inside that <VirtualHost> which is what tells Apache that it needs to process incoming connections as SSL connections. Without it, Apache assumes that incoming connections are unencrypted and it tries to parse the SSL protocol as HTTP and gets gibberish.

answered Mar 21 '11 at 21:55

DerfK

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I already set `SSLEngine on`, `SSLOptions +StrictRequire`, and `SSLRequireSSL`, yet still nothing happens. – isekaijin Mar 21 '11 at 21:58
My mistake was forgetting to include `httpd-ssl.conf` in `httpd.conf`. Sorry! – isekaijin Mar 21 '11 at 22:09

Configuring Apache2.2 + mod_ssl; need an explanation, not a how-to

1 Answers1