Installing and Testing Your Certificate

At this point, you should have a file named /etc/httpd/conf/server.key, containing your key, and a file named /etc/httpd/conf/server.crt, containing your test certificate. If your key and certificate are somewhere else, move them to these directories. If you changed any of the default locations or filenames for the Red Hat Linux Secure Server in your Apache configuration files, you should put these two files in the appropriate directory, based on your modifications.

Now start your server as described in the section called Starting and Stopping Your Server. Your server should start.

Point your Web browser to your server's home page. The URL to access your Red Hat Linux Secure Server will look like this:

https://your_domain

	Please Note
	Note the "s" after "http." The https: prefix is used for secure HTTP transactions. If your connection goes through, you should see a dialog box indicating that your browser must be configured to accept the test certificate.

Your browser will not automatically recognize the test certificate, because the certificate is not signed by a CA. Follow the instructions provided by your browser to accept the test certificate. You can just accept the defaults by clicking Next until the dialogs are finished.

Once you've configured your browser to accept the test certificate, your Red Hat Linux Secure Server will show you a default home page as shown in Figure 3-6.

Figure 3-6. The Red Hat Linux Secure Server Default Home Page

Your secure Web server is running. The next step is to buy and install a real certificate.