Nginx: Requesting and Configuring SSL Certificate

INTRO

Step by step instructions for my future self to obtain the SSL certificate and to configure it in Nginx because my fragile little brain cannot retain them at the moment.

INSTRUCTIONS

Generate a private key and store it in a safe place.

openssl genrsa -out myshittycode_com.key 2048

Generate a certificate signing request (CSR).

openssl req -new -sha256 \
  -key myshittycode_com.key \
  -out myshittycode_com.csr	\
  -subj "/C=US/ST=ShittyState/L=ShittyCity/OU=ShittyUnit/O=ShittyCompany/CN=myshittycode.com"

Request a SSL certificate from Certificate Authority (ex: Sectigo) using the generated CSR.

If approved, you will receive an email similar to the below.

To configure the SSL certificate in Nginx, don’t use Certificate (w/ chain), PEM encoded because it contains the certificates in the following order:-

• Root CA certificate
• Intermediate CA certificate
• Certificate

Nginx wants them in this order:-

• Certificate
• Root CA certificate
• Intermediate CA certificate

To pull this off, download Certificate only, PEM encoded and Root/Intermediate(s) only, PEM encoded.

Then combine them into one file in the proper order.

cat myshittycode_com_cert.cer myshittycode_com_interm.cer > myshittycode_com_bundle.crt

In nginx.conf, add the bundle certificate, private key and server name.

server {
  listen               443;
  ssl                  on;
  ssl_certificate      /etc/pki/tls/certs/myshittycode_com_bundle.crt;
  ssl_certificate_key  /etc/pki/tls/private/myshittycode_com.key;
  server_name          myshittycode.com;

  location / {
    ...
  }
}

Restart Nginx service.