How to enable HTTPS for Application running inside the docker container

Hemanth_L

Hey REI3 Team,
I've hosted my application inside the Docker container, and I'm looking to enable HTTPS for secure communication. As i have generated the Self-Signed Certificate and then placed it in the container under the "certificates" directory, but still I'm not able to configure HTTPS, so can anyone guide me how can it be achieved.

Thanks in advance!

gabriel

Have you updated the config.json file inside /opt/r3/` to point to the new certificate & key files (web->cert/key)? You probably also want to update the port to something other than 80 (web->port).

The config file is read during service start so you need to reboot your container after changing it.

You also need to reconfigure parts of the Docker file:

EXPOSE 80
CMD ["/opt/r3/r3", "-run", "-http", "-config", "/opt/r3/data/config.json"]

You need to expose the port you have chosen inside the config file. You would also need to remove the -http argument.

The default Docker compose file also maps port 80 by default. You need to update this as well.

Hemanth_L

Hi gabriel ,
Thank you for your response, I have configured all the points as told like I have created the container using the compose file where I have mapped the 443 port and also I generated the self signed certificate using the below command

And i placed the files in "/opt/r3/data/certificates/" directory and in the config file I have made the below changes,

And I'm accessing it via https://localhost:14000 to which i have mapped the 443 port but still it tells that "The site cannot provide a secure connection" So is there anything else that has to be done?

Thanks in advance.

gabriel

A couple of things:

Have you deleted and rebuild your containers after removing the -http argument? Just making the changes is not enough, if it´s part of the container definition. As one does with Docker, if it changes, you recreate it. Just make sure that you have your configuration and state (eg. files/database) in persistent locations. This is the default in our Docker template if I remember correctly, but I do not know what changes you made otherwise.
A self signed certificate in the way that you create it, will not be trusted. It will throw errors and you´ll likely have issues with some browsers forgetting previous security exemptions for this untrusted certificate - at least this is my experience.
- Btw. r3 will auto-generate self-signed certificates for you, if it runs in HTTPS mode. It basically does the same as you did with your openssl command.
- If you can, getting a trusted certificate is very helpful in avoiding issues in the future. You can go different routes to that goal, like using Let´sEncrypt (if the system has internet access) or creating a local CA and signing your own hosts.