You may wish to install tomcat to support secure connections over SSL, that is, via HTTPS.
This is described in the standard tomcat documentation - for tomcat 8 at https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-8.0-doc/ssl-howto.html - but some notes are given here to get you started.
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A list of certificate authorities is given on in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_authority.
Overview
All installations process The installation of a certificate will contain the steps:
- Obtain a certificate - whether self-signed or from a certificate authority
- Create a keystore
- Tell tomcat where to find the keystore
Quick start for HTTPS access to PhixFlow
Two example installations are given here: These instructions will help you get an HTTPS connection to PhixFlow, using a self-signed certificate, on linux , and a self-signed certificate on windows. There are the two commonest platforms for PhixFlow, and the instructions are provided to help you set PhixFlow up quickly to operate securely over with HTTPS.
| Warning |
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These quick start instructions will allow you to connect to PhixFlow over an HTTPS connection, but there are other security implications when setting up a production system using certificates - in particular, whether you use a certificate from a certificate authority. Therefore, you may need to check this set up against your company security policies. Consult the standard tomcat documentation for full details of alternative methods of installation. |
The examples use a Java tool called keytool, so you must have Java installed to follow thesethem.
Obtain certificate and create keystore
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$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -genkey -alias tomcat -keyalg RSA -keystore /opt/secure/keystore |
| Warning |
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Ensure that you create your keystore in a location that is only accessible to privileged users |
To complete the command:
- Enter a keystore password when prompted - keystorePasswd
- Enter data information about your company, contact name, etc - this information will be displayed when users access PhixFlow
- Select the default option not to set a separate password for the private key; if you want to do this, consult the tomcat documentation for further details.
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<!-- Define a SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443 This connector uses the NIO implementation that requires the JSSE
style configuration. When using the APR/native implementation, the
OpenSSL style configuration is required as described in the APR/native
documentation -->
<Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol"
maxThreads="150" SSLEnabled="true" scheme="https" secure="true"
keystoreFile="C:\app\secure\keystore" keystorePass="Hjq43823LfgreN"
clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS" /> |
| Info |
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By default, tomcat uses the port 8443 for SSL connections; if you want to use a different port, update the port setting of the connection details in the server.xml file |
| Warning |
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Because the password for the keystore is stored in the server.xml file, ensure that this file is only accessible to privileged users |
- Restart tomcat. PhixFlow will now be available at
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https://server:portNumber/webappName |
E.g.
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https://localhost:8443/phixflow |
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<!--
<Connector port="8081" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443" />
--> |
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Using a Certificate from a Certificate Authority
To use a certificate from a certificate authority, follow instructions in the standard tomcat documentation, e.g. https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-8.0-doc/ssl-howto.html, under section Installing a Certificate from a Certificate Authority