This article provides you with information on how to install SSL certificates on your VPS server running Ubuntu OS.


The following steps are based on the Ubuntu server with Apache2.


Step 1 -Copy/paste your SSL certificate files to the server


Download your Intermediate Certificate (CertificateAuthority.cert) and SSL Certificate (Example_Your_Domain.cert) from your Certificate Authority.


Copy the Intermediate Certificate and SSL Certificate to the directory on the server where you will keep the certificate and key files. Make them readable by root only.



Step 2 - Locate the Apache configuration file for editing


Generally, in Ubuntu’s Apache the configuration file can be found in;


/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/example_your_domain

Note: If you are unable to find the configuration file on the folder location “sites-enabled” then you must run the following command


“sudo a2ensite example_your_domain”

Open the configuration file with a text editor and locate blocks that contain the Apache setting.


Step 3 - Find the SSL block to configure


If your intention to access your website using both “https” and “http” connections, then you need two separate files in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/. One is for port 80 and another for port 443.


Step 4 - Configure the block for the “SSL-enabled” website.


Here is an example of a virtual host configured for SSL certificate connection. The parts in bold letters must be configured to an established secure connection of HTTPS on Ubuntu Server with Apache2


DocumentRoot /var/www/ SSLEngine on SSLCertificateFile /path/to/example _your _domain.crt SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/your_private.key SSLCertificateChainFile /path/to/CertificateAuthority.crt

Make your file names match your certificate files, such as;

  • SSLCertificateFile is your certificate file (eg. example_your_domain.crt).
  • SSLCertificateKeyFile is the key file that you generated while creation of the CSR.
  • SSLCertificateChainFile is the Certificate Authority intermediate certificate file (Symantec.crt)

Step 5: That’s it! Restart Apache Now!