Configuring Admin Tools to Run as HTTPS

Option 1: Using an Existing IIS PFX Certificate (RECOMMENDED)

1. Export the certificate from IIS:
   a. From your Start menu, open “Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager”
   b. Click on the server name in the "Connections" pane (located left-hand side) 
   c. In the middle pane, double-click "Server Certificates" (under IIS section)
   d. Select the certificate you want to export
   e. Click "Export" in the "Actions" pane (located on the right-hand side)
   f. Follow the wizard to export the certificate as a .pfx file (Note: remember the passphrase you specified to protect the cert)
   g. Export the PFX to your GEO Jobe product’s main folder
   (Note: if you don’t have an export option you may need to re-import the certificate to IIS with the allow export option)

2. Open the command prompt and navigate to the Admin Tools 2.0 main directory and insert:

(Note: This will save the passphrase as an encrypted string in the MongoDB database.)

3. In the product’s main application directory, locate the config/nodeconfig.json and make the following modifications in the JSON file:

   "useHTTPS": true,  "certs": {     "certificate": "",     "key": "",     "pfx": "ADD PFX FILE NAME HERE" --> example: "pfxCert.pfx"   },

(Note: If you are using an absolute path in your nodeconfig.json, be sure to use double backslashes, such as "C:\\BackupMyOrg\\Certificates\certificate.pem" or "C:\\CleanMyOrg\\Certificates\certificate.pem". Please also ensure that the name of your PFX file is added to the “pfx” property. An example is shown above.)

4. Restart your Admin Tools 2.0 service

   1. Then, load https://localhost:9181 or https://yourwebdomain:9181

Option 2: Using a key and pem file

1. Both a certificate and key .pem file are required. (If you need to generate these, you can do so by downloading OpenSSL at: https://slproweb.com/download/Win64OpenSSL_Light-3_4_0.msi

2. Open the command prompt in Windows.

3. Run the following commands to generate your private key and public certificate:

4. Once you have the cert and key files, copy them to your Admin Tools folder.

5. Edit the config/nodeconfig.json file and make the following modifications:

4. Restart your Admin Tools 2.0 service.

   1. Then, load https://localhost:9181 or https://yourwebdomain:9181

See A "Not Secure" Warning On Your Browser?

If you have created a self-signed certificate, those will always appear as not trusted.

You will need to buy a certificate from a trusted source (such as Verisign) to have a signed certificate from an authority.

 

Open

 

Option 3: Convert an existing IIS Certificate into a key/pem

To convert an IIS certificate to a .key and .pem format for use in Admin Tools 2.0 you can follow these steps:

1. Export the certificate from IIS:
   a. From your Start menu, open “Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager”
   b. Click on the server name in the "Connections" pane (located on the left-hand side) 
   c. In the middle pane, double-click on "Server Certificates"
   d. Select the certificate you want to export
   e. Click "Export" in the "Actions" pane (located on the right-hand side)
   f. Follow the wizard to export the certificate as a .pfx file (remember the password you specified to protect the cert)
   (Note: if you don’t have an export option you may need to re-import the certificate to IIS with the allow export option)

2. Convert the .pfx file to a .pem file using OpenSSL:
   a. Install OpenSSL on your computer if it is not already installed (Windows version can be found at: Win32/Win64 OpenSSL Installer for Windows - Shining Light Productions
   b. Copy the .pfx file to the OpenSSL /bin folder
   c. Open a command prompt or terminal window
   d. Navigate to the OpenSSL bin directory
   e. Run the following command (changing exported cert name as necessary):

This command will prompt you for the password you used to protect the .pfx file. Enter the password and press Enter. The command will create a .pem file in the same directory as the .pfx file.

3. Extract the private key from the .pem file using OpenSSL:
   a. Run the following command in the same directory where the .pem file is saved:

This command will extract the private key from the .pem file and save it as a separate .key file in the same directory.

4. Copy the .pem and .key to the application directory and configure config/nodeconfig.json
   a. Copy the new .pem and .key file to your application root directory
   b. Open <application directory>\config\nodeconfig.json
   c. Modify the settings as follows (changing names as necessary):

5. Restart the Admin Tools server, and open the browser using the HTTPS location.

Finalizing Configuration for your HTTPS Certificate (for All Options Above)

• It is important to properly specify what configuration type that is being used for your Admin Tools certificate and nullify or providing empty values to other certificate properties. Improper specification of the certification type may cause complications when running Admin Tools.

• Under nodeconfig.json, specify which HTTPS certificate type you will use for your environment (under certs) and property in certs to null or empty:

• If using certificate and key, ensure that both contain filepath values while pfx and pfximport are left blank. If using pfximport, provide filename and leave the other property values blank.

• In web.config file, Adjusted line 33 to set https for secure connection:

Related Articles:

Configuring Backup My Org to Run as HTTPS

Configuring Clean My Org to Run as HTTPS