# SSL Authentication in Mongrel **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 12, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-authentication-in-mongrel/131752 "2008-03-12T23:19:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenatron)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-authentication-in-mongrel/131752/1 "2008-03-12T23:19:21Z")
I am working on project and I need to get the value stored in the header (SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN ). We have been doing PKI authentication for sometime in PHP by getting the value of $\_SERVER[“SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN”] . Now that I am trying some stuff in Rails I can’t seem to get anywhere. I try to do what you do above and I get a “Bad Request” when I have SSLUserName SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN in the httpd-ssl.conf file. I am able to get up and running when I comment it out. Here is my config: SSLRandomSeed startup builtin SSLRandomSeed connect builtin SSLRandomSeed connect file:/dev/urandom 512 Listen 443 AddType application/x-x509-ca-cert .crt AddType application/x-pkcs7-crl .crl SSLPassPhraseDialog builtin SSLSessionCache “shmcb:/var/run/ssl\_scache(512000)” SSLSessionCacheTimeout 28800 SSLMutex “file:/var/run/ssl\_mutex” \ \ BalancerMember [http://127.0.0.1:3000](http://127.0.0.1:3000) # General setup for the virtual host ServerName [luther.example.com](http://luther.example.com) ServerAdmin removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ErrorLog “/var/log/httpd-error.log” TransferLog “/var/log/httpd-access.log” RequestHeader set X\_FORWARDED\_PROTO ‘https’ SSLUserName SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN ProxyPass / balancer://mongrel\_cluster/ ProxyPassReverse / balancer://mongrel\_cluster/ ProxyPreserveHost ON #Rewrite the REMOTE\_USER env variable into the request header RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{LA-U:REMOTE\_USER} (.+) RewriteRule . -[E=RU:%1] RequestHeader add X-FORWARDED-User %{RU}e SSLEngine on SSLCipherSuite ALL:!ADH:!EXPORT56:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW:+SSLv2:+EXP:+eNULL SSLCertificateFile “/usr/local/etc/apache22/ssl/luther.crt” SSLCertificateKeyFile “/usr/local/etc/apache22/ssl/privkey.pem” SSLCertificateChainFile “/usr/local/etc/apache22/ssl/chain.crt” SSLCACertificatePath “/usr/local/etc/apache22/ssl.crt” SSLVerifyClient require SSLVerifyDepth 10 SSLOptions +StdEnvVars +ExportCertData And in an controller I am just doing: \<%= request.env['SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN'] %\> also tried \<%= request.env['HTTP-X-FORWARDED-SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN'] %\> All I get is blank. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated ---
**Author:** ![glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenatron)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-authentication-in-mongrel/131752/2 "2008-03-12T23:45:57Z")
On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 9:18 AM, Ben M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I am working on project and I need to get the value stored in the > header > (SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN ). We have been doing PKI authentication for > sometime in PHP by getting the value of > All I get is blank. > > Any advice would be MUCH appreciated As a “quick and nasty, see what the hell is happening” thing, I would put the following in your view: ``` <%= session.to_yaml -%> ``` That way you can see what the session actually contains and debug from there. Mikel ---
**Author:** ![glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenatron)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-authentication-in-mongrel/131752/3 "2008-03-15T16:33:01Z")
Fantastic! … I did that and was able to see that I was calling it wrong! I was \<%= request.env[‘HTTP-X-FORWARDED-SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN’] %\> and all I needed was \<%= request.env[‘HTTP\_X\_FORWARDED\_SSL\_CLIENT\_S\_DN\_CN’] %\> This is great news thanks for all your help. ---
**Author:** ![glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@glenatron](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/glenatron)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ssl-authentication-in-mongrel/131752/4 "2008-03-17T03:21:59Z")
On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 2:32 AM, Ben M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Fantastic! … I did that and was able to see that I was calling it > wrong! Good! 🙂 That is a bit of a hackish way to do it though (putting it in the view). A better solution is making an around filter and then requesting it. Like here: [http://www.lindsaar.net/2008/3/17/debugging-the-rails-session-store](http://www.lindsaar.net/2008/3/17/debugging-the-rails-session-store) Mikel > **[Mikel Lindsaar](https://lindsaar.net/)** > > Internet Home for Mikel Lindsaar