Using HTTPS

You can use HTTPS to secure data transferred between the application components and the client’s browser.

To configure HTTPS, you need SSL certificates. You can choose one of the following options:

  1. Use SSL certificate issued by the Certification Authority (CA).
    This is the recommended approach for the application installation that is intended for a production environment. The connection to the server will be secure and users will not get any warnings from the browser.
  2. Use a self-signed SSL certificate.
    If you do not have a signed certificate or if you only require a certificate for testing purposes, use a self-signed SSL certificate. However, in this case users will get warnings from the web browser about the use of a self-signed certificate as the server will not be considered secure.

If you install the program in a production environment, it is strongly recommended to use HTTPS with a CA certificate and a highly discouraged HTTP or self-signed SSL certificate.

Basic steps

  1. Obtain an SSL certificate.
  2. Extract the certificate and keys from a .pfx file.
    Currently, Timeline does not accept .pfx files. You must extract the .cert and .key files from the .pfx file, so that the certificate and the key files are available separately.
    For more information see How to extract .cert and .key files from the .pfx.
  3. Set up HTTPS.
    You can enable SSL and configure HTTPS on one of the following stages:

How to extract .cert and .key files from .pfx

Prerequisites. Ensure OpenSSL is installed in the server that contains the SSL certificate.

Important. Name your private key and certificate files as server.key and server.cert respectively. The key and certificate files must be named server.key and server.cert since Timeline accepts only files with these names.

  1. Start OpenSSL from the OpenSSL\bin folder.
  2. Open the command prompt and go to the folder that contains your .pfx file.
  3. Run the following command to extract the private key:
    openssl pkcs12 -in [yourfile.pfx] -nocerts -out [keyfile-encrypted.key]

    You will be prompted to type the import password. Type the password that you used to protect your keypair when you created the .pfx file. You will be prompted again to provide a new password to protect the .key file that you are creating. Store the password to your key file in a secure place to avoid misuse.
  4. Run the following command to extract the certificate:
    openssl pkcs12 -in [yourfile.pfx] -clcerts -nokeys -out [certificate.cert]
  5. Run the following command to decrypt the private key:
    openssl rsa -in [keyfile-encrypted.key] -out [keyfile-decrypted.key]
  6. Type the password that you created to protect the private key file in the previous step.
  7. The .cert file and the decrypted and encrypted .key files are available in the path, where you started OpenSSL.
  8. Rename your .cert and .key files to server.cert and server.key as Timeline only accepts files with these names.

9/5/2024 4:23:54 PM

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