Configuring HTTPS using a self-signed certificate

This topic shows you how you can configure HTTPS for ArcGIS Server using a self-signed certificate. The following steps configure HTTPS using a self-signed certificate:

1. Create a new self-signed certificate.
2. Configure ArcGIS Server to use the certificate.
3. Configure each GIS server in your deployment.
4. Configure HTTPS for your site.
5. Access your site using HTTPS.
6. Import the certificate into the OS certificate store.

Create a new self-signed certificate

1. Log in to the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory at https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/admin.
2. Browse to machines > [machine name] > sslcertificates.
3. Click generate.
4. Provide values for the parameters on this page:

   Option	Description
   Alias	A unique name that easily identifies the certificate.
   Key Algorithm	Use RSA (the default) or DSA.
   Key Size	Specifies the size in bits to use when generating the cryptographic keys used to create the certificate. The larger the key size, the harder it is to break the encryption; however, the time to decrypt encrypted data increases with key size. For DSA, the key size can be between 512 and 1,024. For RSA, the recommended key size is 2,048 or greater.
   Signature Algorithm	Use the default (SHA256withRSA). If your organization has specific security restrictions, then one of the following algorithms can be used for DSA: SHA384withRSA, SHA512withRSA, SHA1withRSA, SHA1withDSA.
   Common Name	This field is optional and is used for backwards compatibility with older web browsers and software. It is recommended to use the fully qualified domain name of your server name as the common name. If your server will be accessed on the Internet through the URL https://www.gisserver.com:6443/arcgis/, use www.gisserver.com as the common name. If your server will only be accessible on your local area network (LAN) through the URL https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis, use gisserver.domain.com as the common name.
   Organizational Unit	The name of your organizational unit, for example, GIS Department.
   Organization	The name of your organization, for example, Esri.
   City or Locality	The name of the city or locality, for example, Redlands.
   State or Province	The full name of your state or province, for example, California.
   Country Code	The abbreviated code for your country, for example, US.
   Validity	The total time in days during which this certificate will be valid, for example, 365.
   Subject Alternative Name	The subject alternative name (SAN) is used to validate that the SSL certificate presented by the website being accessed was issued for that web site. If no SAN is defined, some web browsers may attempt to validate the SSL certificate using the Common Name (CN) parameter while some web browsers may display an error that the SSL certificate presented by the website could not be validated. The SAN field supports multiple values. However, it must include the fully qualified domain name of the website. The SAN parameter value cannot contain spaces. For example, if your server will be primarily accessed using the URL https://www.esri.com, the SAN parameter should be set to DNS:www.esri.com. If your server will be accessed on the public internet using the URL https://www.esri.com and within your organization's LAN (Local Area Network) sing the URL https://gisserver.esri.com, the SAN parameter should be set to DNS:www.esri.com,DNS:gisserver.esri.com. The use of wildcards (*.esri.com) in the SAN parameter, though supported, is not recommended. When the same certificate is used for multiple web sites or sub-domains, list each website or sub-domain in the SAN parameter, as shown in the following example: Example: DNS:www.esri.com,DNS:esri.com,DNS:www.esri.ch,DNS:www.esri.rw,DNS:www.esri.de,DNS:maps.esri.com,DNS:support.esri.com,DNS:pro.arcgis.com.

5. Click Generate to generate the certificate.

Configure ArcGIS Server to use the certificate

To specify the certificate that ArcGIS Server should use, complete the following steps:

1. Log in to the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory at https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/admin.
2. Browse to machines > [machine name].
3. Click edit.
4. Type the name of the certificate that you want to use in the Web server SSL Certificate field.
5. Click Save Edits to apply your change. This automatically restarts your ArcGIS Server site.
6. After your site is restarted, verify that you can access the URL https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/admin. If you do not get a response from this URL, ArcGIS Server was unable to use the certificate. Log in to the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory at http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis/admin, check your SSL certificate, and configure ArcGIS Server to use a new or different certificate.
7. On the current page, view the property Web server SSL Certificate to verify that the desired certificate will be used for HTTPS.

Configure each GIS server in your deployment

If you have a multiple-machine deployment of ArcGIS Server, you must create a new self-signed certificate for each GIS server that participates in your site and configure that GIS Server to use the certificate.

Configure HTTPS for your site

1. Verify that you can access the URL https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/admin. If you do not get a response from this URL, ArcGIS Server was unable to use the specified certificate. Check your certificate, and configure ArcGIS Server to use a new or different certificate.
2. If you can access the URL https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/admin, browse to security > config > update.
3. For the Protocol parameter, choose the HTTPS Only option, and click Update.

Note:

It takes ArcGIS Web Adaptor one minute to recognize changes to the communication protocol of your site.

Legacy:

At 10.2.1 and earlier versions, you were required to reconfigure ArcGIS Web Adaptor after updating the communication protocol of ArcGIS Server. At 10.2.2 and later versions, this is no longer necessary.

Access your site using HTTPS

Once HTTPS has been configured, ArcGIS Server listens on port 6443 for HTTPS requests. Use the URLs below to securely access ArcGIS Server:

ArcGIS Server Manager	https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/manager
ArcGIS Server Services Directory	https://gisserver.domain.com:6443/arcgis/rest/services

Note:

If you rename ArcGIS Server while HTTPS is enabled, you can continue to access ArcGIS Server using HTTPS; however, you must generate a new certificate and configure ArcGIS Server to use it.

Import the certificate into the OS certificate store

For ArcGIS services such as the PrintingTools service to work with an HTTPS-enabled ArcGIS Server, the server's certificate must be installed as a trusted certificate:

1. Log in to the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory.
2. Browse to machines > [machine name] > sslcertificates.
3. Click the certificate being used by ArcGIS Server and click export. Save the file to the location where CA root certificates are stored on your computer.
4. On the machine hosting ArcGIS Server, open the init_user_param.sh script in a text editor by browsing to the <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/usr directory.
5. Locate the line export CA_ROOT_CERTIFICATE_DIR=<Location_to_CA_Root_Certificate> and specify a location where all CA root certificates are stored on the system. Note that the specified directory needs to be accessible by the account that was used to install ArcGIS Server. You'll need to uncomment the lines by removing the pound sign (#) characters.
6. Save and close the init_user_param.sh script.
7. Restart ArcGIS Server. You can do this by running the startserver.sh script on each GIS server in your site.
8. Repeat the above steps for each GIS server in your site.