Enabling SSL Connection with AppServer

By default, all the requests to AppServer are sent over HTTP protocol. To configure secure SSL connection, you need to enable SSL for AppServer as described in this section.

For Windows, you can enable SSL connection using *.pfx file or Windows Certificate Store. For details, refer to Microsoft Certificate Store description and AppServer SSL parameters description. For Linux, you can enable SSL connection using *.pem file.

1. Before making any changes, it is recommended to stop AppServer.

2. Locate the AppServerX.xml configuration file in the WebSpellChecker installation folder on your server. The default path to AppServerX.xml file is <WebSpellChecker_Installation_Path>/AppServer/AppServerX.xml

3. Scroll down to the section with parameters responsible for secure connection: <SSL>...</SSL>.

Example below applies to SSL setup for Windows.

		<!-- Secure connection -->
        <SSL>
            <EnableSSL>true</EnableSSL>
            <!-- Transport Layer Security (TLS) version. Possible values: TLSV1, TLSV1_1, TLSV1_2. -->
            <TLSVersion>TLSV1_2</TLSVersion>
            <!-- The source of an SSL certificate. Possible values: FILE, STORE. The default value is STORE. -->
            <SSLCertificateSource>STORE</SSLCertificateSource>
            <SSLCertificateStoreSettings>
            <!-- The Common Name represents the server name protected by the SSL certificate (the fully qualified HostName). -->
            <SSLCertificateCommonName></SSLCertificateCommonName>
            <!-- If specified, Windows machine certificate store is used. Otherwise, the user's certificate store is used. 
			The default value  is true. -->
            <SSLCertificateUseMachineStore>true</SSLCertificateUseMachineStore>
			<!-- Possible values: MY (Personal), ROOT (Trusted Root Certification Authorities), TRUST (Enterprise Trust), 
			CA (Intermediate Certification Authorities), USERDS (Active Directory User Object). The default value is MY. -->
			<SSLCertificateStore>MY</SSLCertificateStore>
            </SSLCertificateStoreSettings>
            <SSLCertificateFileSettings>
            <!--Path to PKCS #12 (*.pfx) file containing the certificate and corresponding private key. 
			Path example: C:/Program Files/WebSpellChecker/AppServer/certificate.pfx -->
            <SSLCertificateFile></SSLCertificateFile>
            <SSLCertificatePassword></SSLCertificatePassword>
            </SSLCertificateFileSettings>
        </SSL>

Example below applies to SSL setup for Linux.

		<!-- Secure connection -->
		<SSL>
            <EnableSSL>true</EnableSSL>
            <!-- Transport Layer Security (TLS) version. Possible values: TLSV1, TLSV1_1, TLSV1_2. -->
            <TLSVersion>TLSV1_2</TLSVersion>
 			<!-- Path to certificate file (PEM format). Path example: /opt/WSC/AppServer/cert.pem -->
            <SSLCertificateFile></SSLCertificateFile>
            <!-- Path to private key file (PEM format). Path example: /opt/WSC/AppServer/key.pem -->
            <SSLCertificateKeyFile></SSLCertificateKeyFile>
            <SSLCertificatePassword></SSLCertificatePassword>
            <!-- Contains the path to the file or directory containing the CA/root certificates. The default value is empty. -->
            <SSLCertificateAuthorityLocation></SSLCertificateAuthorityLocation>
            <!-- specifies whether the builtin CA certificates from OpenSSL are used. The default value is false. -->
            <SSLCertificateLoadDefaultCA>false</SSLCertificateLoadDefaultCA>
		</SSL>

4. Change the default value for the EnableSSL parameter to true.

<EnableSSL>true</EnableSSL>

5. When configuring an SSL connection, please note that SSL setup steps for Windows and Linux differ:

for Windows, you can use either a .pfx file or export an SSL certificate from Windows Certificate Store.
for Linux, you need to specify a path to certificate file and a private key file in *.pem format.

5.1. Configuring SSL connection on Windows.

As it was already mentioned, there are two options how to configure SSL connection using FILE or exporting from STORE. These otpions are defined in the SSLCertificateSource parameter. Depending on your preferences, you need to select one of the options. The default value is STORE.

<!-- The source of an SSL certificate. Possible values: FILE, STORE. The default value is STORE. -->
<SSLCertificateSource>STORE</SSLCertificateSource>

Let’s review these two options and the steps required to configure them.

Option A. Configuring SSL connection using FILE.

1. Change SSLCertificateSource value from STORE to FILE:

<SSLCertificateSource>FILE</SSLCertificateSource>

2. Specify the path to *.pfx file containing the certificate and corresponding private key, for example, C:/Program Files/WebSpellChecker/AppServer/certificate.pfx in the tag below:

<SSLCertificateFile></SSLCertificateFile>

3. If your SSL certificate is password-protected, type the certificate password in the SSLCertificatePassword tag.

<SSLCertificatePassword>your_certificate_password</SSLCertificatePassword>

Option B. Configuring SSL connection by exporting SSL certificate from Windows Certificate Store.

Specify SSLCertificateStoreSettings parameters which is the group of parameters required to use SSL certificate from STORE, namely:

SSLCertificateCommonName which is a server name protected by the SSL certificate fully qualified HostName; a string value, for example, cloud.kp.org;
SSLCertificateUseMachineStore which is an option specifying if the machine store certificate is used.

5.2. Configuring SSL connection on Linux.

Unlike Windows, on Linux-based environments there is only option available for SSL connection configuration, namely, FILE.

To configure SSL connection on Linux:

1. Specify the path to certificate file *.pem format, for example, /opt/WSC/AppServer/cert.pem in the SSLCertificateFile tag below:

<SSLCertificateFile></SSLCertificateFile>

2. Specify the path to private key file in *.pem format, for example, /opt/WSC/AppServer/key.pem in the tag below:

<SSLCertificateKeyFile></SSLCertificateKeyFile>

3. If your SSL certificate is password-protected, type the certificate password in the SSLCertificatePassword tag.

6. As soon as the modifications are completed, start AppServer for the changes to take effect.

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5.1. Configuring SSL connection on Windows.

5.2. Configuring SSL connection on Linux.