nginx ssl configuration (gogetssl)

Step 1: Combine All Certificates into a Single File

You should have received your SSL certificate via email in the form of a .zip file. Once you download and extract the file, you will see it consists of a server certificate, a root certificate, and an intermediate certificate.

The first step is to combine all three files into one.

diagram showing Combines certificates into a single SSL bundle file

You can do this manually, by copying and pasting the content of each file in a text editor and saving the new file under the name ssl-bundle.crt.

You can also do this via command-line. The command to merge the certificates into one file will depend on whether you have separate intermediate files or if these files are inside a single .ca-bundle file.

a) If all three certificates are listed separately, use the command:

cat your_domain.crt intermediate.crt root.crt >> ssl-bundle.crt

b) If the intermediate certificates are in one bundle, run:

cat your_domain.crt your_domain.ca-bundle >> ssl-bundle.crt

Note: Make sure you save the ssl-bundle.crt file in the etc/ssl directory.
Step 2: Edit NGINX Configuration File

Next, configure the NGINX server block (AKA virtual host file) for your server.

If you don’t know the location of the file, run the command:

sudo find nginx.conf

Open the file to make the necessary modifications.

The easiest way to set up the configuration is to copy the original server module, paste it below, and edit the content.

    Start by specifying the server should listen to port 443: listen 443;
    Make sure the server block includes the line: ssl on;
    Define the path of the SSL certificate: ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/ssl-bundle.crt;
    Specify the directory where the SSL Certificate Key is located: /path/to/your_private.key;

The configuration file should look similar to the one below:

server {
listen 443;
ssl on;
ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/ssl-bundle.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /path/to/your_private.key;
root /path/to/webroot;
server_name your_domain.com;
}
access_log /var/log/nginx/nginx.vhost.access.log;
error_log /var/log/nginx/nginx.vhost.error.log;
location / {
root /var/www/;
root  /home/www/public_html/your.domain.com/public/;
index index.html;
}
}