Update
Let's Encrypt is now available for node: letsencrypt-express
It's automatic HTTPS for your node server and it'll work with any of the frameworks (koa, hapi, whatever), not just express.
Also take a look at
- letsencrypt-cli
- letsencrypt (lib)
- https://daplie.com/articles/lets-encrypt-on-raspberry-pi/
- https://daplie.com/articles/lets-encrypt-on-digital-ocean-with-caddy/
- https://daplie.com/articles/lets-encrypt-in-literally-90-seconds/
- https://caddyserver.com/
HTTPS 2048-bit RSA TLS/SSL Cert Example
This is targeted towards people who are using io.js / node.js, but as far as generating and testing certs, these are the exact same openssl commands you'd use with any language.
ScreenCast
See https://youtu.be/r92gqYHJc5c
See the full article at How to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for HTTPS (TLS/SSL) RSA PEMs
Zero-Config Example
Clone and run - it's that easy.
1. Clone the Example
git clone https://github.com/coolaj86/nodejs-ssl-example.git
pushd nodejs-ssl-example
npm install
node ./serve.js 8043 4080
2. Go to https://local.helloworld3000.com:8043
Then visit https://local.helloworld3000.com:8043.
Note that http://local.helloworld3000.com:4080 will redirect to https.
Note: This points to your localhost but since it's very difficult to
develop, especially with HTTPS, with 127.0.0.1, localhost, or file://,
I maintain local.helloworld3000.com and local.foobar3000.com
for examples such as this one.
Note: Your browser will warn you that you the server is using a bogus certificate authority. That's okay for the purposes of this example.
Special Notes
The key to this example is that the certs are not self-signed root certificates. Using self-signed root certs is the stupidest thing that anyone ever tried to do in a browser.
Instead, the self-signed Root CA is used to sign the certificate that the browser / other http client will use. That's why this example works where others fail. It doesn't violate the rules for Root certs.
If only the world knew that all you have to do to fix Self-Signed Certificate errors is to create one additional certificate and serve that instead of the root...
Full Article
See the full article at How to create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) for HTTPS (TLS/SSL) RSA PEMs
SSL Warnings
This example uses dummy SSL certificates that are not recognized by your browser.
There's nothing wrong with the example. The browser security warnings are normal. It's simply your browser letting you know that these certificates are not from a recognized vendor.
If you deploy your "real" app publicly you should swap them with your own certificates.
TODO: During Summer 2015 Mozilla will make basic SSL certificates available to all web hosts for free be (see Let's Encrypt). Someone remind me to come back and update the instructions for the free certificates if this notice is still here in August.
Other SSL Resources
Zero-Config clone 'n' run (tm) Repos:
- io.js / node.js HTTPS SSL Example
- io.js / node.js HTTPS SSL Self-Signed Certificate Example
- io.js / node.js HTTPS SSL Trusted Peer Client Certificate Example
- SSL Root CAs
Articles
