Configuring MAMP for SSL

Question

Ok fellow coders, I am trying to configure MAMP with SSL on my mac for development purposes. I have read and tried the following instructions:
http://www.emersonlackey.com/article/mamp-with-ssl-https http://www.webopius.com/content/355/getting-mamp-working-with-ssl-on-os-x

with no luck. I can hit either 127.0.0.1 or localhost with http but both https://localhost and https://127.0.0.1 return host not found error.

looking at phpinfo, i can't see mod_ssl being loaded.

has anyone done this with os x 10.6.7? i have no idea where to go from here.

hope someone can help.

thanks

------edit start------

the following are the changes i have made to the config files to get https working. Please follow the tuts listed above to get the certificate/key created and the password removed (as also mentioned by @dallas below).

httpd.conf

Comment out the ifdef to make sure LoadModule is executed

#<IfDefine SSL>
    LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
#</IfDefine>

make sure the following is in the file...

Listen 80
ServerName localhost:80

ssl.conf

Add the following ....

<VirtualHost localhost:443>
    DocumentRoot /Users/myname/Documents/DevProjects/WebdevProjects
    ServerName localhost
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /Applications/MAMP/conf/ssl/server.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /Applications/MAMP/conf/ssl/server.key
</VirtualHost>

before the existing

<VirtualHost _default_:443>

server.crt and server.key are the newly created ones as per the obove tuts' links.

Comment out

#<IfDefine SSL>

around line 35 and its closing tag around line 245 to enable the line...

Listen 443

in between, update all certificate references to the newly created files as per the above VirtualHost definition.

I'm having an ssl/mamp problem as well. I have a self-signed certificate, and when I use https it asks for my permission, but when I accept I get a 404 error. Maybe I'm using the wrong DocumentRoot for the virtual host? I'm using `/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/`, what should it be? — William, Sep 30 '11 at 22:24

Robert · Answer 1 · 2019-10-12T18:16:50.530

57

If you're using MAMP 3 or 4 the instructions are slightly different. Here's what worked for me, starting from a fresh install of MAMP 3.0.5 on Mavericks without Pro.

Update: Still works on Yosemite after fixing Apache as described in this answer.

Further Update: Comments suggest this still works at least through MAMP 5.4.

Generate the certificate

This part is straight from the tutorials, so if you already did it you can skip to "Set up MAMP".

Use the terminal to generate a private key in your default folder:

cd ~
# generate a private key
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 2048
# make up a passphrase and remember it, you’ll need it 3 more times.

# generate certificate signing request
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
# same password
# answer the questions, use "localhost" for your Common Name
Country Name: US
State Name: California
Locality: My City
Organization: My Company
Organization Unit Name: # leave blank
Common Name: localhost
Email address: email@example.com
A challenge password: # leave blank
An optional company name: # leave blank

# generate the certificate from the CSR for 5 years
openssl x509 -req -days 1825 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

# remove the password requirement from the server key
cp server.key server.tmp
openssl rsa -in server.tmp -out server.key

Set up MAMP 3.0.5

Here's where the instructions from previous versions are a little off. The filenames and locations changed and some of the commands in the conf files are different. The following is what worked for me on a fresh install of MAMP 3.0.5.

Move the certificate files (server.key and server.crt) to:

/Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/

Open Apache's httpd.conf file:

/Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/httpd.conf

# set your listen port to 80 (near the top of the file)
Listen 80

# set your ServerName to localhost:80 (default is 8888)
ServerName localhost:80

# uncomment the line that includes the secure (SSL/TLS) connection conf
Include /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

Save it and close. Now open Apache's ssl conf file:

/Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

Find the <VirtualHost> entry (big block at the end of the file starting with <VirtualHost _default_:443> and ending with </VirtualHost>) and replace the entire thing with:

<VirtualHost *:443>
        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/server.crt
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/server.key
</VirtualHost>

Save and close. Start your MAMP server. You should be able to access your document root at http://localhost and https://localhost.

edited Oct 12 '19 at 18:16

answered Aug 24 '14 at 05:36

Robert

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Confirmed working as of MAMP 3.2.1. Thank you kindly. – Will Tate Jul 02 '15 at 18:19
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working feb 16th 2016 --osx 10.11.3 && MAMP 3.5 THANKS! – RobBenz Feb 16 '16 at 18:18
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This should be the correct answer. Very well written and works perfectly. – mylesthe.dev Aug 08 '16 at 02:04
3

This worked great, but still not getting https:// to work in browser. Any suggestions how to get rid of Chrome's "Your connection is not private" warning? Seems that the certificate isn't trusted (NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID). – Brian Mayer Aug 21 '16 at 18:51
@BrianMayer Where did you get the certificate? If it's one you generated yourself (as opposed to purchased from a certificate authority) then you'll have to add it to your browser's trust store before it will show as trusted. And that will only work for your own browser; for the world at large you need a real certificate. – Robert Aug 21 '16 at 19:11
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Myself--and that makes sense, I just edited Chrome settings and it worked. Just trying to make my dev environment work for https (I know I need a real cert when I push live). – Brian Mayer Aug 21 '16 at 19:32
2

The solution also and still works on MAMP 4.2.1 (Mac OS X Sierra) – Emil Devantie Brockdorff Nov 01 '17 at 12:37
1

2021 and this still works!! Although, now there is no need for the last step and replacing the entry. Can totally skip this part. I also generated my certificates using a different tutorial so can't confirm those tuts still work but I used https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-https-working-on-your-local-development-environment-in-5-minutes-7af615770eec/ – dylzee Jan 08 '21 at 08:30
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Mamp 6.3 and till works with additional changes for Wordpress. Go to wp_options table and update your site_url, home, and theme_mod. – shalonteoh Jan 28 '21 at 03:35
Sadly, I can't get this to work in MAMP Pro 6.6. I'm well versed in Apache config and can't spot anything wrong here, I'm not discounting Mac osX issues though, I don't get any apache error logs just "Unable to connect" (no status code) from the browsers... – Blatant Dec 10 '21 at 11:50
For context I'm a unix sysadmin and windows power user/dev, I don't use Macs or MAMP Pro day to day so I'm thinking its something to do with that and problem in chair.... – Blatant Dec 10 '21 at 12:15
To use subjectAltName [SAN] in your certificate (needed by Chrome), you can generate you key and certificate like this : https://www.lopau.com/how-to-generate-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate-with-san/ – Sébastien Chandonay Jul 26 '22 at 07:58

score 24 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '12 at 16:15

24

It's Very Difficult way for https here is simple way.

Open MAMP Pro.

In Server Tab Make Sure Your HTTP Port is 80 and HTTPS Port is 443
Click on Hosts Tab
Click On Plus Arrow for add new host.
Add 127.0.0.1 As Hostname
Click SSL Enable
Select Directory Where is your htdocs or websites folder
Click on SSL Tab
Create Self Signed Certificate By Button Below.
Then it will ask for save location after save it will select certificate auto.
Restart your MAMP Server.

Enjoy!!!!

Type : https with localhost then you can see result.

Mandeep Gill

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That requires MAMP Pro which requires a license. – Solubris Sep 07 '12 at 12:33
What version of MAMP PRO is that for? I am using 1.9.6.1 and do not have an SSL port on my Server tab, only Apache and MySQL. When adding a host, there is no "click SSL Enable," even under Advanced. – Sabrina S Aug 16 '13 at 22:23
This works, some notes I recommend reading: 1) For a specific host name enter the hostname you want to use in the "Server Name" blank (Hosts > General) as you cannot add aliases for your ssl host (this would be instead of the 127.0.0.1 as listed in the above example). 2) I could not get regular https to work with the ssl host so I had to make another host with the alias named the same as "Server Name" of the ssl host. Finally working now. – dataskills Apr 16 '14 at 15:52
Stop server before creating new host, this should work i am using MAMP 3.5 and still this trick working :) – Mandeep Gill Mar 23 '16 at 10:15
Note, I had to use port 8890 instead of the standard 8888 when making requests. – Phil Hudson Jun 18 '16 at 10:54
You have a pro mamp. That's no sweat to get SSL running. See the OP question. He did not speak about PRO. SSL on pro is piece of cake. – neoswf Mar 29 '22 at 23:53

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 17 '11 at 02:49

I just ran into the same problem but was able to fix it.

I'm running; Mac OS 10.6.7 MAMP 1.9.4

I have only read the tut from webopius which does a good job but it missed something.

I changed in the httpd.conf

Listen 80 not Listen 127.0.0.1:80

I also forgot to run this in the terminal cp server.key server.tmp openssl rsa -in server.tmp -out server.key

That removes the password needed to use the key, which if you don't start apache in the terminal, then you can't enter the pass phrase for the cert.

What you can do is, run this command to start apache for MAMP and see if any errors pop out.

sudo /Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/apachectl start

Ok, think that covers about it.

thanks for responding to my question. I also managed to get https working. The problem i had was with the definition of the virtual server. I will edit my post shortly to include the changes i made in case someone else is having the same problem. thanks. — djeetee, Jun 21 '11 at 13:33

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 30 '12 at 01:53

I followed the webopius instructions as well, but couldn't get SSL pages to load. As mentioned by @djeetee, the definition of the virtual server in httpd.conf and ssl.conf is problematic. The best guide I found recommended making the following revisions to those files:

Before you make these edits, make sure you've generated the key/cert as detailed by webopius and made the basic edits to httpd.conf, such as commenting out the SSL IfDefine statements.
Edit ssl.conf, deleting the existing VirtualHost declaration (around 160 lines, runs to the end of the file) and replacing it with something simple:
```
<VirtualHost *:443>
  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /Applications/MAMP/conf/ssl/server.crt
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /Applications/MAMP/conf/ssl/server.key
</VirtualHost>
```
In my case, I was only enabling SSL for a specific VirtualHost; I had to add a DocumentRoot to the definition to make it work:
```
DocumentRoot "/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/subfolder"
```

Edit httpd.conf, again, configuring the VirtualHosts a bit differently than the default.

NameVirtualHost *:80
NameVirtualHost *:443
<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot "/Applications/MAMP/htdocs"
  ServerName localhost:80
</VirtualHost>

Again, in my case I had an additional VirtualHost where my SSL action was going on:

<VirtualHost *>
  DocumentRoot "/Applications/MAMP/htdocs/subfolder"
  ServerName dev.subfolder.localhost
</VirtualHost>

Again, check out Mr. Lackey's blog for more comprehensive instructions that'll take you through the entire process; these were just the things I did to salvage my install after using Webopius.

Adding the NameVirtualHost *:443 did the trick for me. The problem prior to that was that all requests were going only to the first virtual host. Thanks that for that! — Prathamesh Datar, May 31 '20 at 10:08

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 16 '14 at 22:05

2

Also make sure you uncomment this line in httpd.conf

# Secure (SSL/TLS) connections
Include /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

Otherwise it will not be included when you start Apache. Mine was commented out for some reason.

answered Feb 16 '14 at 22:05

user603749

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After upgrading from MAMP 3 to MAMP 4 this was what we needed to do to get SSL working again. – user Jun 01 '17 at 23:24

user629283 · Answer 6 · 2017-08-07T23:17:24.233

If you're using MAMP 4 and you're still struggling to get ssl working.

Here is how I got it working.

Step 1: Generate the certificate (Follow Roberts Instruction)

Step 2: Make sure 'LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so' has been uncommented.

Step 3: I use 'Listen 81' (without quotes) instead of 80 (I think something is using it but test it out on some port numbers if you can or just stick to 81).

Step 4: Make 'ServerName localhost:81' (without quotes).

Step 5: Uncomment 'Include /Applications/MAMP/conf/apache/extra/httpd-ssl.conf'

Step 6: Make sure the 'server.crt' and the 'server.key' are in the right place (this should be right if you follow Roberts instruction)

Step 7: Open httpd-ssl.conf file (follow the path that the include is pointing at) Change 'Listen 443' to 'Listen *:443'

Step 8: Find <VirtualHost _default_:443> change it to <VirtualHost *:443>

Step 9: You can either do it two ways on this one, you can point the 'DocumentRoot' to the folder of your project/website or you can just comment out the 'DocumentRoot' (I have chosen to comment it out).

Step 10: Change 'ServerName www.example.com:443' to 'localhost:443'

Step 11: Optional- The Directory path maybe wrong because the 'cgi-bin' is actually in the MAMP folder not library, however I left that alone and it seems to work fine for me.

Quit MAMP, reopen it and start the server. You should be able to access http://localhost:81 and to get to the ssl site its https://localhost:443.

I hope my instruction were clear and your MAMP works. Good luck

P.s if it is still not working use 'sudo /Applications/MAMP/Library/bin/apachectl start' in the terminal to see what error you get.

Configuring MAMP for SSL

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