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====== Apache - Certificates - Use password protected certificates ======

A lot of people remove the passphrase from their own key files because it is the simplest solution, but security-wise, it is not the best idea.

An alternative is to feed the passphrase to Apache.

  * This can be done with the **SSLPassPhraseDialog** option in the httpd.conf (or another file that it includes).

If you only have one SSL site on your server, the simplest form of this would be:

<file bash /etc/apache2/httpd.conf>
# either of these will work
SSLPassPhraseDialog |/path/to/passphrase-script
SSLPassPhraseDialog exec:/path/to/passphrase-script
</file>


Then create a very simple script called **/path/to/passphrase-script** that contains something like the following:

<file bash /path/to/passphrase-script>
#!/bin/sh
echo "put the passphrase here"
</file>

<WRAP warning>
**WARNING**:  As this script would contain the actual passphrase, it needs to be securely locked-down.
</WRAP>

<WRAP info>
**NOTE:**  When starting up, Apache will take the output of this script and use it as the passphrase for the SSL key.

  * If you have multiple SSL sites, **SSLPassPhraseDialog** has additional ways in which it can be used, so you can either have a single script for all of your keys, or a separate script for each, or however you want to do it.

</WRAP>