New Apache2 setup only working with https

I see a VirtualHost for *.161:443, do you have one for *.161:80? Most http daemons require that you specify both if you want both.

Thanks, I thought that the file in sites-enabled was to configure for ssl and that ports.conf called regular http. I read that I could combine the two statements on one line and that it would be best to use asteriks instead of an ip address to resolve the hostname so I changed my first line to:

<virtualhost *:80="" *:443=""></virtualhost>

but when I tried connecting this way, I kept getting a generic Apache error about talking to an SSL site using plain text http.

I looked in ports.conf and there was no NameVirtualHost defined, just Listen 80 statement. So I fried placed the ip address however I kept get a warning: NameVirtualHost 198.58.111.161:80 has no VirtualHosts whenever I reload/restart Apache.

I went back into laftechsecure.net in sites-enabled and tried adding Listen 80 and Listen 443 but the webserver would fail to load. So I now I have the first line set to:

<virtualhost 198.58.111.161:80="" 198.58.111.161:443=""></virtualhost>

and there are no errors but I'm still having the same problem.

I think you'll need to separate this into two VirtualHost definitions, one for your non-SSL site and another for your SSL site. The SSL VirtualHost should include the various SSL directives (SSLEngine, SSLCertificateFile, etc.), and the non-SSL VirtualHost should omit them.

Thanks, that did it. I created two separate definitions and when I first went to reload configuration I recieved 'NameVirtualHost *:80 has no VirtualHosts" error but everything was working. I commented out NameVirtualHost in ports.conf and now I no longer receive error.

Now I am just trying to include the CACertificate in the definition for *:80 for the SSL certificate I purchased. I know that it can't be used with the key for port 80 but I thought there was a way to have it show a kind of digital signature from the issuing agency I purchased it from.

Oh well, it's working fine for https and I plan on using my .htaccess file to have clients connect to https after receiving an http request. If I may ask, is this a "graceful" thing? Meaning if https is not possible for client then the client will just continue on http? Many thanks.

@IceClimber:

Oh well, it's working fine for https and I plan on using my .htaccess file to have clients connect to https after receiving an http request. If I may ask, is this a "graceful" thing? Meaning if https is not possible for client then the client will just continue on http? Many thanks.

You have clients that can't do SSL? Are they using something that predates IE 5?

I'd just redirect all http requests to the equivalent https URL and not worry about gracefully handling clients that cannot support SSL (unless you have some very interesting clients).

If it's IE of any version, just ask them to switch to a more secure browser :wink:

AFAIK CA Certs are useless for a non-https connection, and I've never heard of having a digital signature for a website.

I agree with dcraig about redirecting http requests to https – at the very least, for any sort of registration, login (and post-login), or form type deal. For anyting else, I think it useless to force https.

I see. I thought there was an option for users to disable SSL in the browser. I also plan on offering users an option to login using SSl but that is only for a part of the site where they can upload a file so it worked out well.

Digital signature was the wrong word but what I meant was something that verifies who you are, a la Verisign. I didn't realize these were Extended Evaluation certificates, which are far too expensive.

I agree, it is pretty useless to force normal pages to use SSL but part of my site deals with computer security so I thought it would look better to use https. I still plan on using .htaccess to force https but so far it's been harder than I thought to find a free php script that works. Oh well, I'll find one soon.