Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
Apache + ApacheSSL

Follow these instructions to generate a CSR for your Web site. When you have
completed this process, click the “close” button below to close this window
and continue to the next step. OpenSSL is the open source project that replaced
SSLeay. If you are using SSLeay on your system instead of OpenSSL, substitute
ssleay with openssl for the commands.

• Install OpenSSL, if not found on your server.
• Create a RSA key for your Apache server:
  

  cd /apacheserverroot/conf/ssl.key (ssl.key is the default key
  directory.)

  If you have a different path, cd to your server’s private key directory

• Type the following command to generate a private key that is file encrypted.
  You will be prompted for the password to access the file and also when starting
  your webserver: Warning: If you lose or forget the
  passphrase, you must purchase another certificate.

  openssl genrsa -des3 -out domainname.key 1024

You could also create a private key without file encryption:

openssl genrsa -out domainname.key 1024

Note: We recommend that you name the private key using
the domain name that you are purchasing the certificate for ie domainname.key

* Note: You will be prompted for your PEM passphrase if you included the
“-des3″ switch in step 3.

When creating a CSR you must follow these conventions. Enter the information
to be displayed in the certificate. The following characters can not be accepted:
< > ~ ! @ # $ % ^ / \ ( ) ?.,&