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Question

How do I redirect from http to https on apache2.

I need to redirect a website already up and running on a digital ocean server from http://www.example.com to https://www.example.com. I’ve been working on it all day and have been able to generate an ssl certificate from lets encrypt and have stored it in a specific file in my directory. I know I need to give the server the location of the certificate but I dont know where I have to type that in. I tried following a tutorial https://www.digicert.com/ssl-certificate-installation-ubuntu-server-with-apache2.htm but that doesnt seem to work either. On running a config test, I get an error saying that snakeoil.key (private key) file does not exist. Although when I sudo nano that file, I can see the key (it does exist!) I dont know what to do here anymore. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Flamber Hansen • July 27, 2017

@elecsoftconsult

Okay, can you remove the HTTPS (443) VirtualHost, since it doesn’t work currently and it’s just Let’s Encrypt. And remove the redirect VirtualHost that I posted. Now your site should just work with HTTP (80).

Then go and follow this tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-secure-apache-with-let-s-encrypt-on-ubuntu-16-04

sebestyenmiklos • April 30, 2018

In your_virtual_host.com.conf file put the following configuration:


<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName <ip_or_host>
        Redirect "/" "https://<ip_or_host>"
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
        ServerName <ip_or_host>
        DocumentRoot /var/www/whateverfolder
        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile      /etc/ssl/certs/apache-selfsigned.crt
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key
        <Directory /var/www/whateverfolder/public>
           DirectoryIndex index.php
           AllowOverride All
           Require all granted
        </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Some of the parameters have to be changed or commented out, depends on your previous configuration steps.

Flamber Hansen • July 27, 2017

Hi @elecsoftconsult

Can you post your VirtualHost configurations (both the one for port 80 and 443). It will be easier to help then. Make sure your snakeoil.key file is readable by the same user/group as Apache, which is normally www-data

One way is to change your port 80 Virtualhost to this and restart Apache:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName yourdomain.com
  Alias www.yourdomain.com
  Redirect permanent / https://www.yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>

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