Overview

OpenSSL is a toolkit for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols. It is also a general-purpose cryptography library. It is used to secure connections on the server and within your software.

This is already installed on all DreamHost servers. DreamHost runs version OpenSSL 1.1.1 on servers running Ubuntu 18 and 1.1.0l on servers running Debian Stretch.

Do I need to install my own version?

The version on the server works for the majority of all web applications. However, newer software may require a higher version. For example, Python 3.7.1 requires version 1.0.2 or above. In you wish to use software that requires a higher version, you must install the newer version of OpenSSL locally under your Shell user.

Installing OpenSSL

This example installs version 1.1.1g.

  1. Log into your server via SSH.
  2. Visit https://www.openssl.org/source/ and locate the version you wish to download. Right click it and choose Copy link address.
  3. Run wget to download the file.
    [server]$ wget https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.1.1g.tar.gz
  4. You should also confirm the file's integrity by downloading the SHA256 file on the same page next to it.
    [server]$ wget https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.1.1g.tar.gz.sha256
  5. Once both files are downloaded, view the checksum to confirm the version you downloaded is safe to use.
    [server]$ sha256sum openssl-1.1.1g.tar.gz
ddb04774f1e32f0c49751e21b67216ac87852ceb056b75209af2443400636d46 openssl-1.1.1g.tar.gz
[server]$ cat openssl-1.1.1g.tar.gz.sha256
ddb04774f1e32f0c49751e21b67216ac87852ceb056b75209af2443400636d46
    If they match, proceed with the next step.
  6. Decompress this file.
    [server]$ tar zxvf openssl-1.1.1g.tar.gz
  7. Change into the new openssl directory
    [server]$ cd openssl-1.1.1g
  8. Configure the file:

    This will configure it to be installed in a directory named openssl under your user. Make sure to change username to your Shell user.

    You can install it anywhere you like, just make sure you DO NOT install it into a directory named openssl-1.1.1g. This directory was already created when you decompressed the .tar.gz file. If you configure it to install there, it will fail (since it already exists).

    View the following OpenSSL page for information on configuration options:

    [server]$ ./config --prefix=/home/username/openssl --openssldir=/home/username/openssl no-ssl2

    Make sure to change 'username' to your Shell user.

  9. Run make. Once that is finished, run make test:
    [server]$ make
[server]$ make test
    At the end you should see All tests successful.
  10. Run make install
    [server]$ make install
  11. Change back to your home directory.
    [server]$ cd ~
  12. Add the following lines to your .bash_profile. View Creating and editing a file via SSH for instructions.
    export PATH=$HOME/openssl/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/openssl/lib
    export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
    export LDFLAGS="-L /home/username/openssl/lib -Wl,-rpath,/home/username/openssl/lib"

    In the last line, make sure to change username to your Shell user.

  13. source the .bash_profile
    [server]$ . ~/.bash_profile
  14. Test to confirm it's installed in the correct location and that the version is 1.1.1.
    [server]$ which openssl
/home/username/openssl/bin/openssl
[server]$ openssl version
OpenSSL 1.1.1g  21 Apr 2020