As discussed in a prior post https://jrcrofter.huntrods.com/updating-wordpress-just-got-messy-really-messy/ I was able to install LAMP (Linux, Apache, Mysql & PHP) on my home server that had been converted from Solaris 10 to Ubuntu 18 about a month ago.

It was converted to run the latest version of Tomcat with my application. The conversion wasn’t strictly necessary, but Solaris 10 is long in the tooth and updating the Java virtual machine (JVM) and MySQL had become nigh-on impossible. On the other hand, installing the latest versions on Linux was almost easy. I chose Ubuntu 18.04 because I’ve like Ubuntu since the very first; it’s easy to install and maintain, and seems a very robust Linux distro.

With Apache2 installed and running, my web sites were in good shape… except some things like WordPress started to complain because they weren’t ‘secure’.

Securing Apache means moving from HTTP to HTTPS, which in turn requires getting a security certificate. Fortunately, I’d already switched to LetsEncrypt for my security certs, so I was comfortable with the process. Likewise, my application was already using HTTPS, so I’m also comfortable with that process.

What was new was a) moving my application to another port so that the default HTTPS port (443) was free for my Apache web pages, and getting HTTPS running on Apache2.

As it turns out, it was quite easy. Following a good guide, I installed and used Certbot to obtain new LetsEncrypt certs for my web domains, which also handled renewals and much of the background installation work. With a few config changes and adding the secure mods, all the web pages were switched over to HTTPS without incident.

The more I use Ubuntu (and thus Linux) to do actual tasks, the more I’m liking the ease of installation and maintenance. The fact that there is now a critical mass of GOOD help online is also a great bonus.