CODEWITHSUNDEEP
web-servicessslssl-certificatesecurity
davidrac
davidrac

Reputation: 10738

How to handle SSL server certificate in production?

I'm setting up SSL in my site for the first time and I wonder if there are any guidelines regarding the handling of certificates.

What is the best practice regarding handling my SSL server certificate? Should it be put in source control? If not, where? Are there any Does and Don'ts I should follow?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 711

Answers (1)

Ofer Zelig
Ofer Zelig

Reputation: 17508

You don't put your SSL certificate in a source control. It will be completely different the next time you renew it.

When you deploy the certificate to your server, you might be going through a wizard (if this is IIS, for example). In some stage it might ask you whether you want to export the private key - say YES, and choose a password. Save the generated private key file in a safe place (obviously not on the server itself). If this is a different server, look for a way to export the private key as described.

Besides that, there's no much to do. Essentially it's an IT thing rather than a programmer's stuff. Just be sure to put a reminder to renew it, several weeks before the expiry date, else - when your visitors will enter the site after the expiry date, they will get a very noticeable warning from their browser, that there is a problem with the SSL certificate, and you will lose traffic/customers.

Upvotes: 3

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