Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 SP2 - INSTALLATION AND ADMINISTRATION Installation Manual page 795

Encrypting the server key with a password requires you to enter this password
every time you start the Web server. This makes it difficult to automatically start
the server on boot or to restart the Web server. Therefore, it is common sense to
say N to this question. Keep in mind that your key is unprotected when not en-
crypted with a password and make sure that only authorized persons have access
to the key.
IMPORTANT: Encrypting the Server Key
If you choose to encrypt the server key with a password, increase the
value for APACHE_TIMEOUT in /etc/sysconfig/apache2. Otherwise
you do not have enough time to enter the passphrase before the attempt
to start the server is stopped unsuccessfully.
The script's result page presents a list of certificates and keys it has generated. Contrary
to what the script outputs, the files have not been generated in the local directory conf,
but to the correct locations under /etc/apache2/.
The last step is to copy the CA certificate file from /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/ca
.crt to a location where your users can access it in order to incorporate it into the list
of known and trusted CAs in their Web browsers. Otherwise a browser complains that
the certificate was issued by an unknown authority. The certificate is valid for one year.
IMPORTANT: Self-Signed Certificates
Only use a self-signed certificate on a Web server that is accessed by people
who know and trust you as a certificate authority. It is not recommended to
use such a certificate on a public shop, for example.
Getting an Officially Signed Certificate
There are a number of official certificate authorities that sign your certificates. The
certificate is signed by a trustworthy third party, so can be fully trusted. Publicly oper-
ating secure Web servers usually have got an officially signed certificate.
The best-known official CAs are Thawte (http://www.thawte.com/) or Verisign
(http://www.verisign.com). These and other CAs are already compiled into
all browsers, so certificates signed by these certificate authorities are automatically ac-
cepted by the browser.
The Apache HTTP Server 777