====== 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:
# either of these will work
SSLPassPhraseDialog |/path/to/passphrase-script
SSLPassPhraseDialog exec:/path/to/passphrase-script
Then create a very simple script called **/path/to/passphrase-script** that contains something like the following:
#!/bin/sh
echo "put the passphrase here"
**WARNING**: As this script would contain the actual passphrase, it needs to be securely locked-down.
**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.