Using self-signed OpenSSL pem with Docker Tomcat
It is possible to use pem-style certificates with Tomcat Docker image, without any need to store them first into the Java keystore. This is excellent since not only it is easier to generate self-signed certificate with the openssl command, this can also be used with certificates produced by Let’s Encrypt.
Let’s first see how to use the self-signed keys with the Tomcat Docker 9 image. First we generate the self-signed certificate:
$ openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout localhost-rsa-key.pem -out localhost-rsa-cert.pem -days 36500
Specify “changeit” as a password (or any other password of your chosing); the Common Name/FQDN is your domain, say, testing.com.
Place the generated localhost-rsa-*.pem files into a ssl/ folder. Now create the following docker-compose.yml file:
version: '2'
services:
web:
image: tomcat:9.0.5-jre8
ports:
- "8080:8080"
- "8443:8443"
volumes:
- ./ssl:/usr/local/tomcat/ssl
- ./server.xml:/usr/local/tomcat/conf/server.xml
Place the following server.xml file next to the docker-compose.yml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
-->
<!-- Note: A "Server" is not itself a "Container", so you may not
define subcomponents such as "Valves" at this level.
Documentation at /docs/config/server.html
-->
<Server port="8005" shutdown="SHUTDOWN">
<Listener className="org.apache.catalina.startup.VersionLoggerListener" />
<!-- Security listener. Documentation at /docs/config/listeners.html
<Listener className="org.apache.catalina.security.SecurityListener" />
-->
<!--APR library loader. Documentation at /docs/apr.html -->
<Listener className="org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener" SSLEngine="on" />
<!-- Prevent memory leaks due to use of particular java/javax APIs-->
<Listener className="org.apache.catalina.core.JreMemoryLeakPreventionListener" />
<Listener className="org.apache.catalina.mbeans.GlobalResourcesLifecycleListener" />
<Listener className="org.apache.catalina.core.ThreadLocalLeakPreventionListener" />
<!-- Global JNDI resources
Documentation at /docs/jndi-resources-howto.html
-->
<GlobalNamingResources>
<!-- Editable user database that can also be used by
UserDatabaseRealm to authenticate users
-->
<Resource name="UserDatabase" auth="Container"
type="org.apache.catalina.UserDatabase"
description="User database that can be updated and saved"
factory="org.apache.catalina.users.MemoryUserDatabaseFactory"
pathname="conf/tomcat-users.xml" />
</GlobalNamingResources>
<!-- A "Service" is a collection of one or more "Connectors" that share
a single "Container" Note: A "Service" is not itself a "Container",
so you may not define subcomponents such as "Valves" at this level.
Documentation at /docs/config/service.html
-->
<Service name="Catalina">
<!--The connectors can use a shared executor, you can define one or more named thread pools-->
<!--
<Executor name="tomcatThreadPool" namePrefix="catalina-exec-"
maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="4"/>
-->
<!-- A "Connector" represents an endpoint by which requests are received
and responses are returned. Documentation at :
Java HTTP Connector: /docs/config/http.html
Java AJP Connector: /docs/config/ajp.html
APR (HTTP/AJP) Connector: /docs/apr.html
Define a non-SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8080
-->
<Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443" />
<!-- A "Connector" using the shared thread pool-->
<!--
<Connector executor="tomcatThreadPool"
port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443" />
-->
<!-- Define a SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443
This connector uses the NIO implementation. The default
SSLImplementation will depend on the presence of the APR/native
library and the useOpenSSL attribute of the
AprLifecycleListener.
Either JSSE or OpenSSL style configuration may be used regardless of
the SSLImplementation selected. JSSE style configuration is used below.
-->
<!--
<Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol"
maxThreads="150" SSLEnabled="true">
<SSLHostConfig>
<Certificate certificateKeystoreFile="conf/localhost-rsa.jks"
type="RSA" />
</SSLHostConfig>
</Connector>
-->
<!-- Define a SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443 with HTTP/2
This connector uses the APR/native implementation which always uses
OpenSSL for TLS.
Either JSSE or OpenSSL style configuration may be used. OpenSSL style
configuration is used below.
-->
<Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol"
maxThreads="150" SSLEnabled="true" >
<UpgradeProtocol className="org.apache.coyote.http2.Http2Protocol" />
<SSLHostConfig>
<Certificate certificateKeyFile="ssl/localhost-rsa-key.pem"
certificateFile="ssl/localhost-rsa-cert.pem"
certificateKeyPassword="changeit"
type="RSA" />
</SSLHostConfig>
</Connector>
<!-- Define an AJP 1.3 Connector on port 8009 -->
<Connector port="8009" protocol="AJP/1.3" redirectPort="8443" />
<!-- An Engine represents the entry point (within Catalina) that processes
every request. The Engine implementation for Tomcat stand alone
analyzes the HTTP headers included with the request, and passes them
on to the appropriate Host (virtual host).
Documentation at /docs/config/engine.html -->
<!-- You should set jvmRoute to support load-balancing via AJP ie :
<Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="localhost" jvmRoute="jvm1">
-->
<Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="localhost">
<!--For clustering, please take a look at documentation at:
/docs/cluster-howto.html (simple how to)
/docs/config/cluster.html (reference documentation) -->
<!--
<Cluster className="org.apache.catalina.ha.tcp.SimpleTcpCluster"/>
-->
<!-- Use the LockOutRealm to prevent attempts to guess user passwords
via a brute-force attack -->
<Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.LockOutRealm">
<!-- This Realm uses the UserDatabase configured in the global JNDI
resources under the key "UserDatabase". Any edits
that are performed against this UserDatabase are immediately
available for use by the Realm. -->
<Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.UserDatabaseRealm"
resourceName="UserDatabase"/>
</Realm>
<Host name="localhost" appBase="webapps"
unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true">
<!-- SingleSignOn valve, share authentication between web applications
Documentation at: /docs/config/valve.html -->
<!--
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.authenticator.SingleSignOn" />
-->
<!-- Access log processes all example.
Documentation at: /docs/config/valve.html
Note: The pattern used is equivalent to using pattern="common" -->
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve" directory="logs"
prefix="localhost_access_log" suffix=".txt"
pattern="%h %l %u %t "%r" %s %b" />
</Host>
</Engine>
</Service>
</Server>
The directory structure should look like this:
.
├── docker-compose.yml
├── server.xml
└── ssl
├── localhost-rsa-cert.pem
└── localhost-rsa-key.pem
That’s it - just run docker-compose up in the . folder and Tomcat should boot up. Now you can visit https://localhost:8443 and the browser should warn you about the self-signed certificate - just store an exception for the site and you should see the Tomcat welcome page served over https.
Written on March 4, 2018