Certificate Management Service:Install an SSL Certificate in a Node.js Environment (Linux)

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• A domain name registered with Alibaba Cloud. See Register a generic domain name

• The domain name bound to your simple application server and resolved. See Register and resolve domain name

Step 1: Create a Node.js simple application server

1. Open the Servers page in the Simple Application Server console.

2. Click Create Server in the upper-right corner.

3. On the Apps Image tab of the Image section, select Node.js 16.5.0.

4. Configure the remaining parameters based on your requirements, then complete the purchase.

For more information, see Create a simple application server.

Step 2: Purchase and apply for an SSL certificate

Step 3: Download and upload the certificate

1. On the Official Certificate tab of the SSL Certificate Management page, find your certificate and click Download at the bottom of the certificate list.

   Only certificates in Issued, To be Expired, or Expired state can be downloaded.

   

2. In the Batch Download Certificates dialog box, download the NGINX package.

   Warning

   Keep the downloaded package secure. A certificate leak can expose your website to attacks.

   

3. Decompress the package. It contains two files:

   File	Description
   cert-file-name.key	Private key file. The absolute path of the .key certificate file. Required for installation.
   cert-file-name.pem	Certificate file. The absolute path of the .pem certificate file. Required for installation.

   

4. Use WinSCP, Xshell, or a similar tool to upload both files to the /home directory on your simple application server.

Step 4: Configure the Node.js HTTPS server

1. Connect to your simple application server. See Connect to Linux server.

2. Create the server file:

   cd /home
   sudo touch https_server_test.js

3. Open the file for editing:

   vim https_server_test.js

4. Press i to enter edit mode, then paste the following content:

   // https module is required to start the HTTPS server
   // fs module is required to read certificate files from disk
   const https = require('https');
   const fs = require('fs');
   
   // Load the private key and certificate files.
   // Replace the file names with the actual names you uploaded.
   const options = {
       key: fs.readFileSync('/home/cert-file-name.key'),   // private key file (.key)
       cert: fs.readFileSync('/home/cert-file-name.pem')   // certificate file (.pem)
   };
   
   // Start the HTTPS server on port 443
   https.createServer(options, (req, res) => {
       res.end('hello world\n');
   }).listen(443);

   Replace /home/cert-file-name.key and /home/cert-file-name.pem with the actual paths of the files you uploaded.

   Important

   The certificate paths must be correct for HTTPS to work.

5. Press Esc to exit edit mode, then type :wq and press Enter to save and close the file.

6. Start the HTTPS server:

   sudo node https_server_test.js

Verify the installation

Open a browser and navigate to https://<Domain name of the simple application server>.

• Success: A lock icon appears in the address bar, confirming that the SSL certificate is installed and HTTPS is active.

  

• HTTPS not accessible: Check whether port 443 is enabled and not blocked on the simple application server. For more information about how to enable port 443, see Manage firewalls.

What's next

• To learn more about Certificate Management Service, see What is Certificate Management Service?

• To explore deployment options for other server environments, see Deploy a certificate.