Moodle in English: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue

Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Craig Birtwell - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 4:57 PM

Hi,

I have installed a new Moodle 3.6 on a Windows server with Apache and PHP 7

Moodle Version 3.6.2+ Build : 20190124

I want to setup a wildcard SSL certificate and make sure that https is used to ensure secure access.

I have enabled NAT rules so the site can be accessed externally.

I have enabled the following lines in httpd.conf

LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
Include conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
LoadModule socache_shmcb_module modules/mod_socache_shmcb.so

I have also edited the http-ssl.conf in the apache/conf/etc folder..

<VirtualHost _default_:443>
ServerName subsite.moodlesite.ac.uk:443
DocumentRoot "C:/Moodle3/server/moodle"

SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile "c:/moodle3/server/certificate/cert1.crt"
SSLCertificateChainFile "c:/moodle3/server/certificate/certchain.crt"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "c:/moodle3/server/certificate/certkeyfile.key"
ServerAdmin admin@moodlesite.ac.uk
ErrorLog "C:/Moodle3/server/apache/logs/error.log"
TransferLog "C:/Moodle3/server/apache/logs/access.log"

When I access https://subsite.moodlesite.ac.uk in chrome the informational message is "Your connection to the site is not fully secure. Attackers might be able to see the images you are looking at on this site and trick you by modifying them"

When I access the https://subsite.moodlesite.ac.uk in IE it does not show the site as being encrypted.

Please can you advise how I can resolve this SSL issue to get the certificate working so I can ensure only https is used on our new moodle site ?

Many Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

CBT72

Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Howard Miller - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 5:07 PM

Possibly a stupid question - does your certificate provider support wildcard certificates? They don't all - especially the cheaper ones.

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Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Craig Birtwell - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 5:22 PM

Hi,

We use godaddy as our certificate provider so the certificate should be fine, we use it on a number of systems.

Thanks

CBT72

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Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Howard Miller - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 6:01 PM

Only if you specifically buy a wildcard certificate from them. You would know because they are *waaay* more expensive than standard ones.

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Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Craig Birtwell - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 7:45 PM

Hi Howard,

I can confirm It is a true wildcard certificate that we are using.

Thanks

Craig

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Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Howard Miller - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 9:01 PM

Ok - but the https://... url works? Despite the message?

If so, it's not a Moodle or Apache issue because it works. There's something wrong with the certificate or your browser.

It's also worth checking that you don't have mixed content on your Moodle site (links to http:// things). That can sometimes cause this error.

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Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Luis de Vasconcelos - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 8:48 PM

Going off topic a bit.... but should you really use Apache on Windows? Why not use IIS that's built into Windows Server?

Maybe things have improved, but my adventures with Apache on Windows a long time ago yielded terrible results...

Average of ratings:Useful (1)

Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Craig Birtwell - Wednesday, February 6, 2019, 9:32 PM

Hi Luis,

I have taken your advise and re-setup using IIS 10 using PHP 7.3.1, MariaDB 10.3. The wildcard SSL certificate is now installed and Moodle is working fine and the site is secure. I have also enabled OpCache to improve performance.

Thanks

Craig

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Re: Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working

by Luis de Vasconcelos - Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 9:09 PM

When you've worked out that issue use the HTTPS conversion tool (under Site Admin / Security / HTTP Security) to change the hardcoded HTTP links In your Moodle database to HTTPS.

https://docs.moodle.org/36/en/Moodle_migration#Update_links_containing_wwwroot_in_the_database

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Moodle 3.6.2+ SSL Certificate Issue - https not working