What’s the technical reason that SSLCertificateKeyFile is needed (the private key)? Where is that used and for what?
What’s the technical reason that SSLCertificateKeyFile is needed (the private key)? Where is that
Share
Sign Up to our social questions and Answers Engine to ask questions, answer people’s questions, and connect with other people.
Login to our social questions & Answers Engine to ask questions answer people’s questions & connect with other people.
Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link and will create a new password via email.
Please briefly explain why you feel this question should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Please briefly explain why you feel this user should be reported.
The SSL certificate file contains the X.509 certificate (which, in turn, contains a public key used for encryption). The SSL Certificate Key File contains the private key corresponding to the public key in the certificate. In order for the webserver to encrypt and decrypt traffic, it must have both the public key (certificate) and corresponding private key. Apache, unlike a lot of other server products, stores the key and certificate in separate files. Java-based products, for example, typically use Java KeyStore files, which are an encrypted database containing both the certificate and private key.