Apache: SSLCertificateKeyFile: file does not exist or is empty

Solution 1:

I found the error. It was because I am using a script to setup the certificates, and one of the steps I am performing is apache2ctl configtest. The error was coming from this command, and not from apache restart, which was what was misleading me. Since I was running the apache2ctl command as normal user, it had no access the the keyfiles, and thus the error message.

Facit: make sure all your apache commands are run with sudo, even the ones which are only intended for syntax verification (apache2ctl), since they alse need access to the keys.

Solution 2:

I also get the message

SSLCertificateKeyFile: file '/path/to/file' does not exist or is empty

while /path/to/file exist and have right permissions, just because of SELinux turned on and this file was unaccessable for apache user.

It looks like this:

$ sudo ls -laZ /etc/pki/tls/certs/
drwxr-xr-x. root root system_u:object_r:cert_t:s0      .
drwxr-xr-x. root root system_u:object_r:cert_t:s0      ..
-rw-------. root root unconfined_u:object_r:cert_t:s0  this-one-works.crt
-rw-------. root root unconfined_u:object_r:admin_home_t:s0 this-one-is-unaccessable.crt

To fix this, I run sudo restorecon -Rv /etc/pki/tls/certs/ - it will repair SELinux property for the problem file.

---

Solution 3:

I've done this and it helped me on CentOS 5.7

server:~ # chcon -t cert_t /etc/pki/tls/private/my.key 
server:~ # ls -laZ /etc/pki/tls/private/