How do I create a self-signed SSL Certificate for testing purposes?

1. Make sure OpenSSL is installed and in your PATH.

    

2. Run the following command, to create server.key and server.crt files:
   $ openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -out server.crt -keyout server.key
   These can be used as follows in your httpd.conf file:

                SSLCertificateFile    /path/to/this/server.crt
                SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/this/server.key
   	

3. It is important that you are aware that this server.key does not have any passphrase. To add a passphrase to the key, you should run the following command, and enter & verify the passphrase as requested.

   $ openssl rsa -des3 -in server.key -out server.key.new
$ mv server.key.new server.key
    

Please backup the server.key file, and the passphrase you entered, in a secure location.