Apache won't restart, ssl errors

Question

my websites are alll down, including those upon which my livelihood depends. tail /var/log/apache/error.log gives me this:

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[Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN) www.tonybaldwin.info' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN)mail.myownsite.me' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN) mail.myownsite.me' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN)mail.myownsite.me' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN) mail.myownsite.me' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN)mail.myownsite.me' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN) mail.myownsite.me' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [warn] RSA server certificate CommonName (CN)red.liberame.org' does NOT match server name!? [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [error] Unable to configure RSA server private key [Tue Mar 01 06:07:59 2016] [error] SSL Library Error: 185073780 error:0B080074:x509 certificate routines:X509_check_private_key:key values mismatch

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is there any way to force Apache to restart despite these ssl errors, or must I recreate all of these certificates? or how else can I resolve this problem? one thing that really stumps me is that mail.myownsite.me is not in any apache configs or vhosts, afaik, it should only be of concern to dovecot and/or postfix, so I don't understand why it appears in the apache error.log This is on a vps running debian jessie.

Answer 1

The above error clearly states the virtual hosts created and the certificates binded to them are not matching. Its important to understand that the certificate is binded exactly to the Url which the users type in the address bar to access the web page.

So if your domain say is www.abc.com and the binded certificate common name is 172.168.1.1 or www.xyz.com, the Apache will not start after you initiate the restart. Hence, make sure the certificate common name matches to the server name mentioned in the virtual host for the website to work properly with SSL.