When OpenSSL is first configured it is normal to encrypt the SSL encryption key. This means that when the SSL is started a password is required so that the key can be decrypted. To prevent this happening you simply store the key unencrypted. To do this first create a backup of the encrypted key with
cd /path/to/apache-conf/ssl.key/ cp server.key server.key.encrypted
then use OpenSSL to decrypt the key
/usr/sbin/openssl rsa -in server.key.encrypted -out server.key
and you will be prompted for the password to decrypt the key. That's it. From now on SSL will start without prompting you for a password.
References:
- Setting Up secure web server using Apache and OpenSSL - http://www.unixcities.com/apache-openssl/