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SSL

Generate a Self Signed Certificate

The following code will create a .keystore file in your home directory if one does not already exist. The .keystore file is used to hold one or more certificates, each identified by it's alias.

  • SITE_DOMAIN - domain certificate is to be used on, e.g. www.tilion.org.uk
keytool -genkey -storepass password -keyalg DSA -alias ALIAS -validity 999
What is your first and last name?
  [Unknown]:  SITE_DOMAIN
What is the name of your organizational unit?
  [Unknown]:  
What is the name of your organization?
  [Unknown]:
What is the name of your City or Locality?
  [Unknown]:
What is the name of your State or Province?
  [Unknown]:
What is the two-letter country code for this unit?
  [Unknown]:
Is CN=SITE_DOMAIN, OU=Unknown, O=Unknown, L=Unknown, ST=Unknown, C=Unknown correct?
  [no]:  yes

Enter key password for <ALIAS>
        (RETURN if same as keystore password):

Updating Tomcat

In your tomcat configuration update the connector entries within server.xml, paying particular attention to the sections in bold.

<Connector port="8080" maxHttpHeaderSize="8192"
           maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="25" maxSpareThreads="75"
           enableLookups="false" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="100"
           connectionTimeout="20000" disableUploadTimeout="true" />

<Connector port="8443" maxHttpHeaderSize="8192"
           maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="25" maxSpareThreads="75"
           enableLookups="false" disableUploadTimeout="true"
           acceptCount="100" scheme="https" secure="true"
           clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS" 
           keystoreFile="PATH_TO_KEYSTORE_FILE" 
           keyAlias="ALIAS" keystorePass="password" />