Configure Built-in TLS from the Command Line

The instructions on this page show you how to configure built-in TLS for an existing installation using command-line arguments.

Using the command line, you can switch between the following connection modes:

Mode	Description
HTTP	The default HTTP mode. TLS is disabled. HTTP mode is only suitable for test installations or when connections to Hub are routed through an SSL-terminating reverse proxy server.
HTTPS	A secure HTTPS mode. TLS is enabled. The configuration parameters let you secure your server connections using the following file formats: A keystore that contains private key/certificate data in JKS or PKCS #12 format. A private key, certificate, and (optional) certificate chain as separate files in PEM format.

Mode

Description

HTTP

The default HTTP mode. TLS is disabled.

HTTP mode is only suitable for test installations or when connections to Hub are routed through an SSL-terminating reverse proxy server.

HTTPS

A secure HTTPS mode. TLS is enabled.

The configuration parameters let you secure your server connections using the following file formats:

A keystore that contains private key/certificate data in JKS or PKCS #12 format.
A private key, certificate, and (optional) certificate chain as separate files in PEM format.

To switch modes, stop Hub and run the configure command. The values that you specify for each of the parameters in the command define your configuration of choice. See below for detailed instructions and a complete list of properties for each configuration.

Switching to HTTP Mode

When you run Hub with plain HTTP mode, the connections between web browsers and your server are not secured over SSL/TLS. For security purposes, strongly advise against using plain HTTP.

Hub is also unable to maintain a stable authentication state in connected services when attempting to exchange tokens over an unsecured connection. Any attempt to run Hub in a production environment using plain HTTP connections will result in an extremely frustrating experience for your users. For more information, see Cross-site Cookies.

The one case where it's safe to switch from HTTPS mode to HTTP is when you modify your server environment to use an SSL-terminating reverse proxy. In this case, you switch Hub to run in HTTP mode. Instead of using built-in TLS, you configure the reverse proxy to secure your server traffic.

To switch to HTTP mode:

Stop the Hub service.
Enter the following command:

<hub_home>/bin/hub.sh configure \ --listen-port=8080 \ [--base-url=<new base URL>] \ --secure-mode=disable

If the server base URL changes as a result of switching to HTTP mode, use the --base-url=<new base URL> parameter to set this value.

When you change the base URL of your Hub installation, you must update the settings for integrations and connected service to use the new URL. This includes settings that are stored in Upsource and YouTrack. If you have enabled auth modules that support OAuth 2.0, you need to generate new client IDs and secrets for each third-party authorization service.

For more information about the parameters that are used in this command, see Configuration Parameters.
Start the Hub service.

Switching to HTTPS Mode

The configure command lets you switch from HTTP to HTTPS mode. To enable secure HTTPS mode, you need to provide Hub with a private key and certificate. You can supply the private key and certificate as:

A keystore that contains private key/certificate data in JKS or PKCS #12 format.
A private key, certificate, and (optional) certificate chain as separate files in PEM format.

Before you start, copy your secure files to a location that is available to your Hub server.

The configure command supports different properties that are specific to these file types. Follow the procedure that is applicable for the type of files that are available to you.

You can also follow these procedures if you have already configured HTTPS and simply want to apply a new certificate and private key to your Hub server.

To switch to HTTPS mode using an SSL keystore file:

Stop the Hub service.
Run the following command:

<hub_home>/bin/hub.sh configure \ --listen-port=443 \ [--base-url=<new base URL>] \ --secure-mode=tls \ --tls-server-cert-keystore-file=<path-to-keystore> \ --tls-server-cert-keystore-password=<keystore password> \ --tls-server-cert-keystore-key-alias=<private key entry alias> \ [--tls-server-cert-keystore-key-password=<private key entry password>] \ --tls-redirect-from-http=<[true|false]> \ [--tls-redirect-from-http-listen-port=8080]
- If the server base URL changes as a result of switching to HTTPS mode, use the --base-url=<new base URL> parameter to set this value.
  
  When you change the base URL of your Hub installation, you must update the settings for integrations and connected service to use the new URL. This includes settings that are stored in Upsource and YouTrack. If you have enabled auth modules that support OAuth 2.0, you need to generate new client IDs and secrets for each third-party authorization service.
- If you are switching from HTTP to HTTPS mode, you can designate a redirect listen port. This non-secure port receives all HTTP requests and redirects them to the secure listen port. To do so, use tls-redirect-from-http=true and specify a value for the tls-redirect-from-http-listen-port=<your redirect port number> property.
For more information about the parameters that are used in this command, see Configuration Parameters.
Start the Hub service.

To switch to the HTTPS mode using a private key and certificate:

Stop the Hub service.
Run the following command:

<hub_home>bin/hub.sh configure \ --listen-port=443 \ [--base-url=<new base URL>] \ --secure-mode=tls \ --tls-server-cert-key-file=<path-to-private-key-file> \ --tls-server-cert-file=<path-to-certificate-file> \ [--tls-server-cert-chain-file=<path-to-certificate-chain-file>] \ --tls-redirect-from-http=<[true|false]> \ [--tls-redirect-from-http-listen-port=8080]
- If the private key is encrypted, add the tls-server-cert-private-key-passphrase property to provide the passphrase for the key.
- If you want to define relative paths to the certificate files, use tls-server-cert-key-file, tls-server-cert-file, and tls-server-cert-chain-file. Set the value for the additional tls-server-cert-folder property with the absolute path to the directory. Relative paths are resolved against the specified absolute path.
- If the server base URL changes as a result of switching to HTTPS mode, use the --base-url=<new base URL> parameter to set this value.
  
  When you change the base URL of your Hub installation, you must update the settings for integrations and connected service to use the new URL. This includes settings that are stored in Upsource and YouTrack. If you have enabled auth modules that support OAuth 2.0, you need to generate new client IDs and secrets for each third-party authorization service.
- If you are switching from HTTP to HTTPS mode, you can designate a redirect listen port. This non-secure port receives all HTTP requests and redirects them to the secure listen port. To do so, use tls-redirect-from-http=true and specify a value for the tls-redirect-from-http-listen-port=<your redirect port number> property.
For more information about the parameters that are used in this command, see Configuration Parameters.
Start the Hub service.

Configuration Parameters

The following table provides a list of parameters that you can use to configure built-in TLS.

Property	Value	Description
secure-mode	`disable` \| `tls`	The connection mode that is applied to the Hub server. This property supports the following values: `disable` — TLS is disabled. This is the default value for this property. `tls` — TLS is enabled.
listen-port		The port on which Hub listens to HTTP traffic.
base-url		The URL that end users request to access your Hub installation. For example, `https://hub.mydomain.com`. When the value for the `secure-mode` property is `tls` or your Hub installation is secured behind an SSL-terminating reverse proxy server, the URL should begin with `https`. Otherwise (when running Hub using plain HTTP), the URL begins with `http`.
tls-redirect-from-http	`true` \| `false`	Set to true, to enable an additional port (defined by property `tls-redirect-from-http-listen-port`) to accept unencrypted HTTP traffic and redirect it to a secure port defined by the property `listen-port`. The default value is `false`.
tls-redirect-from-http-listen-port		Specify an additional port to accept unencrypted HTTP traffic and redirect it to a secure port defined by the property `listen-port` (to enable this port, set the property `tls-redirect-from-http` to `true`).
tls-server-cert-folder		An (optional) absolute path to resolve relative paths defined by other command line parameters, when present. Relative paths to server certificate files that are specified in other properties are resolved against this directory. The properties that can reference relative paths are: `tls-server-cert-key-file` `tls-server-cert-file` `tls-server-cert-chain-file` `tls-server-cert-keystore-file`
tls-server-cert-keystore-file		The location of a keystore file in either JKS or PKCS #12 format.
tls-server-cert-keystore-password		Keystore integrity password
tls-server-cert-keystore-key-alias		The alias of the entry in the keystore that contains the server certificate and the private key. If your keystore uses the PKCS #12 format, follow these guidelines: Use the value that is stored as the `friendlyName` in the keystore. If the private key and certificate pair was not marked with a `friendlyName` during generation, use this parameter to provide the sequential number of this pair in the keystore. For a keystore that only contains one certificate and private key pair, set the value to `1`.
tls-server-cert-keystore-key-password		Password that protects your server's private key entry in the keystore.
tls-server-cert-key-file		The location of a private key (PKCS #1 or PKCS #8) file, stored in PEM format.
tls-server-cert-file		The location of a certificate file, stored in PEM format.
tls-server-cert-chain-file		The (optional) location of a file that contains the certificate chain, stored in PEM format.
tls-server-cert-private-key-passphrase	string	If you use an encrypted private key, then use this property to provide the passphrase that was used for encryption. Supported for both PKCS #1 and PKCS #8 formats.

Last modified: 17 February 2020