# Discourse without SSL? SSL in apache2 proxy

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Created:** [December 10, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589 "2019-12-10T18:49:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![CRUGG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/crugg/32/161184_2.png) [@CRUGG](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CRUGG)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589/1 "2019-12-10T18:49:46Z")

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Hey there! I just set up Discourse and have some issues. I set the port to something different because I would like to use my apache2 Server as a proxy/reserse-proxy (I don’t know what’s the correct term)  
When I try to start my Discourse instance, it prints this error to the logs and I can’t open Discourse:

```plaintext
nginx: [emerg] cannot load certificate "/shared/ssl/subdomain.website.tld.cer": PEM_read_bio_X509_AUX() failed (SSL: error:0909006C:PEM routines:get_name:no start line:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE)

```

Is there a way to just simply disable SSL, as I usually do SSL through apache2 anyways, since I can just easily use my .crt and .key files there. If not, a) how can I fix this issue (looks like a .cer file is missing, since there is no shared/ssl folder at all; how can I obtain that since I only have .crt and .key) and b) what would I have to do in the Vhost with the SSL if it’s already done by Discourse?  
This is the parts regarding the proxying and SSL I’d normally use:

```plaintext
ProxyPass / http://<ip-of-discourse-vps>:<http port>/
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/<filename>.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/<filename>.key

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Falco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/falco/32/179432_2.png) [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589/2 "2019-12-10T18:53:17Z")

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If you want to disable SSL in Discourse, edit the app.yml file (`/var/discourse/containers/app.yml`) and remove the templates with SSL in the name on the first lines. After that issue a rebuild (`./launcher rebuild app`) and after the rebuild finishes Discourse will be HTTP only.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![CRUGG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/crugg/32/161184_2.png) [@CRUGG](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CRUGG)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589/3 "2019-12-10T19:16:51Z")

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That was very easy. I now tried that, but my page is still not accessible, but at least I have a different output in the logs now:

```plaintext
root@<vps-hostname>:/var/discourse# docker container logs <container-id>
run-parts: executing /etc/runit/1.d/00-ensure-links
run-parts: executing /etc/runit/1.d/00-fix-var-logs
run-parts: executing /etc/runit/1.d/anacron
run-parts: executing /etc/runit/1.d/cleanup-pids
Cleaning stale PID files
run-parts: executing /etc/runit/1.d/copy-env
Started runsvdir, PID is 38
ok: run: redis: (pid 48) 0s
ok: run: postgres: (pid 46) 0s
chgrp: invalid group: ‘syslog’
rsyslogd: imklog: cannot open kernel log (/proc/kmsg): Operation not permitted.
rsyslogd: activation of module imklog failed [v8.1901.0 try https://www.rsyslog.com/e/2145]
supervisor pid: 51 unicorn pid: 76

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Falco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/falco/32/179432_2.png) [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589/4 "2019-12-10T19:20:56Z")

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Discourse doesn’t act as a “normal” container, so `docker logs` are useless for us.

The actual logs live in `/var/discourse/shared/standalone/logs/`.

But if the rebuild finished with success with zero errors, what happens when you try to curl the application in the port you set it to listen to?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![CRUGG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/crugg/32/161184_2.png) [@CRUGG](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CRUGG)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-without-ssl-ssl-in-apache2-proxy/135589/5 "2019-12-10T19:33:26Z")

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Do you mean the folder “log”? Because there is no folder “logs”. In that I have the folders var-log and rails both with multiple files in them. Which ones do I have to look at?  
Also, I don’t know how curl works. (I would google, but I don’t know what exactly I have to do with curl, so I don’t know what to google)