How to run Angular with https when by default it runs with http?

Question

By default if we run Angular applications they run with http (e.g. on http://localhost:4200).

How to convert it from http to use https?

Answer 1

Simple fix is instead of running:

ng s -o

Run it with an extra argument:

ng s -o --ssl true

It will run on https://localhost:4200. But, if you have a .crt and a .key file, then add that argument also.

You will see a browser which will start with https, although it will say "not secure" as a warning.

---

This is sufficient if you just wanna run on https and you don't care about the "not secure" message. If you do care, proceed with further instructions.

ng s -o --ssl true --ssl-key <path to key file>  --ssl-cert <path to crt file>

or give a relative path to .key and .crt file.

If you don't want to provide these arguments each time or run for example a full NGINX server for angular, then add these arguments in angular.json or angular-cli.json depending upon angular version:

"serve": 
 {
      "builder": "@angular-devkit/build-angular:dev-server",
      "options": 
      {
        "browserTarget": "ideationapp:build",
        "ssl": true,
        "sslKey": "ssl/server.key",
        "sslCert": "ssl/server.crt",
      }
}

sslkey and sslcert are not required if you don't have .key and .crt files.

Here, I assumed to have both files in an ssl dir where src. Now, running only ng s -o is sufficient to use the certificate via the angular.json file.

---

How to create a temporary fix for localhost for only your machine or only for one user.

Requirements:

1. Git bash (Download fom here)

Now go to Git bash and type this command one at a time

git clone https://github.com/RubenVermeulen/generate-trusted-ssl-certificate.git(cloned to local computer)
cd generate-trusted-ssl-certificate(Going to application path)
bash generate.sh(starting shell script wher we called openssl)

The cloned application use openssl(software library for applications that secure communications over computer networks against eavesdropping or need to identify the party at the other end) to generate .crt and .key file

It will create server.key and server.crt file.

Now click on server.crt

For OS X

1. Double-click on the certificate (server.crt)
2. Select your desired keychain (login should suffice)
3. Add the certificate
4. Open Keychain Access if it isn’t already open
5. Select the keychain you chose earlier
6. You should see the certificate localhost
7. Double-click on the certificate
8. Expand Trust
9. Select the option Always Trust in When using this certificate
10. Close the certificate window

Windows 10

1. Double-click on the certificate (server.crt)
2. Click on the button “Install Certificate …”
3. Select whether you want to store it on the user level or on the machine level
4. Click “Next”
5. Select “Place all certificates in the following store”
6. Click “Browse”
7. Select “Trusted Root Certification Authorities”
8. Click “Ok”
9. Click “Next”
10. Click “Finish”
11. If you get a prompt, click “Yes”

The certificate is now installed.

Now store the certificate in an ssl directory.

Now use the command line to provide ssl key and certificate, or add these files to angular.json (or angular-cli.json, depending on your Angular version).

You will not see any "not secure", and it will show "secure" if you click on the lock icon adjacent to the address bar.

But, if you run the application in another's laptop it will show "not secure" as they have not installed the certificate (trusted).

Answer 2

To run angular application on https, do the following steps. npm install -g angular-http-server

Cd Path to site & in dist folder (ClientApp/dist)

Angular-http-server -o

By default runs at 8080 port and with http

Specify a port using -p e.g. Angular-http-server -p 44367 -o

To enable https, you have to manually specify the paths to your self-signed certificate using the --key and --cert flags

angular-http-server --https --key c:/localhost.key --cert c:/localhost.crt -p 44367 -o OR angular-http-server --https --key "Path where key stores" --cert "Path"

you probably see some error at this point if ssl not installed on local machine.

If OpenSSL is not installed on machine, download from below link

http://slproweb.com/download/Win64OpenSSL-1_1_0L.exe

Command to generate OpenSSL

openssl req -new -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -sha256 -nodes -keyout localhost.key -days 3560 -out localhost.crt -config certificate.cnf

below link is describing how to create a certificate, configuring CLI to use

https and Trusting the certificate on Windows.

https://medium.com/@richardr39/using-angular-cli-to-serve-over-https-locally-70dab07417c8

Answer 3

No fancy stuff needed, just add flag --https to your start script and its done.

Eg:

"scripts": {
    "start": "webpack-dev-server --content-base src/ --progress --inline --hot --https"
}