Obtaining and installing SSL certificate and keys

  1. Obtain an SSL certificate and key file. There are two ways you can do this:
    • Purchase them from a public certificate authority (such as Comodo, Symantec, or GoDaddy). The public certificate authority signs the certificate to verify the server that uses it. This is the recommended method.
    • Generate the key and certificate files with an internal self-signed certificate authority. OpenSSL provides a certificate management tool for this purpose, or you can search the Internet for instructions on creating a self-signed SSL certificate.
  2. Copy the certificate and key file or files to a local directory or directories on the server. The public and private keys can be stored in separate directories. They can also be stored in a single file. Ensure that the private key is not in a location that might be encountered during casual browsing of the file system.
  3. Copy trusted certificate authority named root.pem to the following location on the server computer. If you would like to use another location, create an SSL_CERT_DIR environment variable and set the value of the variable to the location.

    Windows 7 and higher: C:\ProgramData\IBM\SPSS\certificates

    Mac: /Library/Application Support/IBM/SPSS/certificates

    UNIX and Linux: /opt/IBM/SPSS/certificates