Nginx HTTPS setup with a self-signed SSL certificate

Nginx HTTPS setup with a self-signed SSL certificate.

It’s not recommended to use HTTPS without a valid SSL/TLS certificate. The certificate is used to encrypt communication between the server and client, and without a valid certificate, the connection will not be encrypted and will be vulnerable to attacks.

However, if you still want to use HTTPS without a valid SSL/TLS certificate, you can do so by using a self-signed certificate or a certificate issued by a private Certificate Authority (CA). Here’s how to do it using nginx:

1. Generate a self-signed certificate:

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx-selfsigned.key -out /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx-selfsigned.crt

This command generates a self-signed certificate and key with a validity of 365 days and saves them to /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx-selfsigned.key and /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx-selfsigned.crt respectively.

2. Configure nginx to use the self-signed certificate:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name example.com;
    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx-selfsigned.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx-selfsigned.key;

    # other server configurations
}

This configuration tells nginx to listen on port 443 (HTTPS) and use the self-signed certificate and key for SSL/TLS encryption.

Note that self-signed certificates are not trusted by default by web browsers and will result in a warning message when a user tries to access the website. To avoid this, you can install the self-signed certificate on the client devices or use a valid SSL/TLS certificate issued by a trusted CA.