To install an SSL certificate on Apache2 (Debian/Ubuntu)

This guide walks you through installing an SSL certificate purchased from Namecheap on an Apache2 server running Debian or Ubuntu.

Step 1: Download Your SSL Certificate

After reissuing your certificate on Namecheap, you will receive a ZIP file containing:

your_domain.crt (SSL Certificate)
your_domain.ca-bundle (CA Bundle or Chain File)

If you don’t have these files, you can download them from your Namecheap account.

Step 2: Upload the SSL Certificate to Your Server

Connect to your server via SSH:
```
 ssh user@your_server_ip
```
Create a directory to store your SSL certificate files:
```
 sudo mkdir -p /etc/apache2/ssl
```
Upload the .crt and .ca-bundle files to /etc/apache2/ssl/ using SCP or SFTP.

Upload the new SSL files to EC2

   scp -i "PATH/your-key.pem" -r PATH/DomainName_com.crt DomainName_com.ca-bundle DomainName_com.key ec2-user@your-server-ip:/etc/ssl/certs/

Step 3: Configure Apache to Use SSL

Enable SSL Module and Virtual Host:

 sudo a2enmod ssl
 sudo a2ensite default-ssl

Open your Apache SSL configuration file:

 sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl.conf

Modify or add the following lines:

 <VirtualHost *:443>
     ServerAdmin admin@yourdomain.com
     ServerName yourdomain.com
     ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com

     DocumentRoot /var/www/html

     SSLEngine on
     SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/your_domain.crt
     SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/your_private_key.key
     SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl/your_domain.ca-bundle

     <Directory /var/www/html>
         AllowOverride All
     </Directory>

     ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
     CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
 </VirtualHost>

Note: The your_private_key.key is the private key you generated when creating the CSR.

Step 4: Restart Apache

After saving the changes, restart Apache to apply the new configuration:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5: Verify SSL Installation

Check if your SSL is installed correctly using:

sudo apachectl configtest

If the output shows Syntax OK, your configuration is correct.

You can also verify your SSL installation using: 🔗 SSL Checker

Step 6: Force HTTPS (Optional)

To redirect HTTP to HTTPS, add the following to your Apache configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com
    Redirect permanent / https://yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>

Then, restart Apache:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Installation check

First, we will check the exact location of the current configuration file for HTTP websites. For that, run the following command:

sudo apachectl -S

Enabling SSL/TLS support on Apache

sudo a2enmod ssl
sudo service apache2 restart

If the command responds with “Module ssl already enabled”, then the module has already been enabled

Now, make sure to check the file syntax by running this command:

apachectl -t

If the command responds with “Syntax OK”, you can reboot the webserver. To do that, run the command: Done! The website is now secured. The installation can be checked 🔗 Here

🔴 Issue: Missing SSL Private Key (Domain.key)

$ sudo apachectl -S 

AH00526: Syntax error on line 33 of /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf:
SSLCertificateKeyFile: file '/etc/ssl/private/DomainName.key' does not exist or is empty
Action '-S' failed.
The Apache error log may have more information.

If You Have a Backup, Restore the Key

sudo cp /path/to/backup/DomainName_com.key /etc/ssl/private/DomainName.key
sudo chmod 600 /etc/ssl/private/DomainName.key
sudo chown root:root /etc/ssl/private/DomainName.key

Done! 🎉

Your SSL certificate should now be active on your Apache2 server. 🚀

To install an SSL certificate on Apache2 (Debian/Ubuntu), follow these steps