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Tutorial - Call UAPI's SSL::install_ssl Function in Custom Code

Introduction

This tutorial creates custom code to call UAPI's SSL::install_ssl function.

Due to their inherent complexities, SSL-related functions often present problems for third-party developers. This tutorial provides explanations for the additional steps required in order to successfully call SSL functions.

Create custom SSL::install_ssl code

Perl

Set the strict pragma and use warnings

These declarations instruct Perl to return errors if the file contains potentially-unsafe code. You can omit the warnings declaration in production code, but we strongly recommend that you use it during development.

# Return errors if Perl experiences problems.
use strict;
use warnings;

Set web request module dependencies

We recommend that you set a dependency for one or more modules that allow you to perform web requests.

  • This tutorial uses the LWP::UserAgent and LWP::Protocol::https modules.
  • The HTTP::Tiny module also fulfills this need. 
# Allow my code to perform web requests.
use LWP::UserAgent;
use LWP::Protocol::https;

Use UTF-8 encoding

You must use UTF-8 encoding when you call UAPI functions. If you do not use the correct encoding, your code may result in wide character warnings.

# Use the correct encoding to prevent wide character warnings.
use Encode;
use utf8;

Use JSON formatting

Declare the use of JSON formatting, to ensure that your code can properly decode JSON.

# Properly decode JSON.
use JSON;

Use Base64 encoding

Declare the use of the MIME::Base64 module, which ensures that your code properly interacts with Base64-encoded authentication headers.

# Function properly with Base64 authentication headers.
use MIME::Base64;

Provide authentication information

Declare the variables for your cPanel account username and password in order to allow your code to authenticate with cPanel & WHM.

# Authentication information.
my $username = 'username';
my $password = '12345luggage';

Set the API call location

Set the $request variable to the URL for the desired API call.

# The URL for the SSL::install_ssl UAPI function.
my $request = "https://localhost:2083/execute/SSL/install_ssl";

Allow HTTPS connections to unsigned services

Set the PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME environment variable to 0 to allow HTTPS connections to unsigned services.

You must include this step in your code. Services on the local host are always unsigned.

# Required to allow HTTPS connections to unsigned services.
# Services on localhost are always unsigned.
$ENV{PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME} = 0;

Create a new UserAgent object

Use the LWP::UserAgent module's new() method to create a new UserAgent object to use for the API call.

# Create a useragent object.
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new();

Create authentication headers

Use the new UserAgent object to set up authentication headers that use the $username and $password values.

# Add authentication headers.
$ua->default_header(
    'Authorization' => 'Basic ' . MIME::Base64::encode("$username:$password"),
);

Read in the SSL certificate and key files

Declare variables and set values for the SSL certificate and key files. You must URI-encode the cert and key parameters' values.

# Read in the SSL certificate and key file.
my ( $cert, $key );
{
    local $/;
    open ( my $fh, '<', '/path/to/certificate.crt' );
    $cert = <$fh>;
    close $fh;

    open ( $fh, '<', '/path/to/key.key' );
    $key = <$fh>;
    close $key;
};

Create a POST request for the call

Create a POST request that includes the function's required input parameters. The $response variable will contain the call's output.

# Make the call.
my $response = $ua->post($request,
    Content_Type => 'form-data',
    Content => [
        domain => 'example.com',
        cert   => $cert,
        key    => $key,
    ],
);

Create an object to decode the call's output

Create an object to decode the call's JSON-formatted output. You will use this object to sort and pretty-print the JSON.

# Create an object to decode the JSON.
# Sorted by keys and pretty-printed.
my $json_printer = JSON->new->pretty->canonical(1);

UTF-8 encode and then decode the call's output

Use the Encode module to UTF-8 encode the call's output in the $response variable. Then, use the JSON module to decode the output. If you do not UTF-8 encode this output, you may receive wide character warnings.

# UTF-8 encode before decoding to avoid wide character warnings.
my $content = JSON::decode_json(Encode::encode_utf8($response->decoded_content));

Print the function's output

Use the object that line 65 created to pretty-print and sort the JSON output. Then, use the Encode module to UTF-8 encode the pretty-printed and sorted JSON, and print the final result. If you do not UTF-8 encode this output, you may receive wide character warnings.

# Print output, UTF-8 encoded to avoid wide character warnings.
print Encode::encode_utf8($json_printer->encode($content));

PHP

Initiate error logging

Set error reporting to E_ALL in order to log all errors and warnings. You can omit this step in production code, but we strongly recommend its use during development.

// Log everything during development.
// If you run this on the CLI, set 'display_errors = On' in php.ini.
error_reporting(E_ALL);

Provide authentication information

Declare the variables for your cPanel account username and password in order to allow your code to authenticate with cPanel & WHM.

// Declare your username and password for authentication.
$username = 'example';
$password = 'luggage12345';

Define the API call

Define the API host, and the URL for the desired API call.

// Define the API call.
$cpanel_host = 'localhost';
$request_uri = "https://$cpanel_host:2083/execute/SSL/install_ssl";

Specify the locations of the SSL certificate and key files

Declare variables and set values for the SSL certificate and key files.

This example manually defines the filename and destination. You can also use functions or the $argv array to pass these values.

// Define the SSL certificate and key files.
$cert_file = realpath("/path/to/cert.crt");
$key_file = realpath("/path/to/key.key");

Set up the payload to send to the server

Set up the payload to send to the server. This data includes the function's required input parameters. You must URI-encode the cert and key parameters' values.

// Set up the payload to send to the server.
$payload = array(
    'domain' => "example.com",
    'cert'   => file_get_contents($cert_file),
    'key'    => file_get_contents($key_file)
);

Set up the cURL request object

Set up a cURL request object that uses the specified $username and $password variables.

  • Only use the CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST and CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER options with self-signed or expired certificates.
  • localhost always uses a self-signed certificate. 
// Set up the cURL request object.
$ch = curl_init( $request_uri );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $username . ':' . $password );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, false );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false );

Create a POST request for the call

Create a POST request that includes the function's required input parameters and uses the $payload variable from line 19.

// Set up a POST request with the payload.
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $payload );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );

Make the call

Use the curl_exec() method to make the API call. Then, use the curl_close() method to close the cURL object that you created.

// Make the call, and then terminate the cURL caller object.
$curl_response = curl_exec( $ch );
curl_close( $ch );

Decode and validate the output

Use the json_decode() method to decode the $curl_response value, which contains the call's output. Then, validate that output.

  • Lines 43 through 45 of the example below check to ensure that the call returned output.
  • Lines 46 through 48 of the example below ensure that there were no errors. 
// Decode and validate output.
$response = json_decode( $curl_response );
if( empty( $response ) ) {
    echo "The cURL call did not return valid JSON:\n";
    die( $response );
} elseif ( !$response->status ) {
    echo "The cURL call returned valid JSON, but reported errors:\n";
    die( $response->errors[0] . "\n" );
}

Print output

Print the validated output and exit.

// Print and exit.
die( print_r( $response ) );

Completed code

When you finish this tutorial, your code will resemble the following examples.

Complete Perl code

#!/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/bin/perl

# Return errors if Perl experiences problems.
use strict;
use warnings;

# Allow my code to perform web requests.
use LWP::UserAgent;
use LWP::Protocol::https;

# Use the correct encoding to prevent wide character warnings.
use Encode;
use utf8;

# Properly decode JSON.
use JSON;

# Function properly with Base64 authentication headers.
use MIME::Base64;

# Authentication information.
my $username = 'username';
my $password = '12345luggage';

# The URL for the SSL::install_ssl UAPI function.
my $request = "https://localhost:2083/execute/SSL/install_ssl";

# Required to allow HTTPS connections to unsigned services.
# Services on localhost are always unsigned.
$ENV{PERL_LWP_SSL_VERIFY_HOSTNAME} = 0;

# Create a useragent object.
my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new();

# Add authentication headers.
$ua->default_header(
    'Authorization' => 'Basic ' . MIME::Base64::encode("$username:$password"),
);

# Read in the SSL certificate and key file.
my ( $cert, $key );
{
    local $/;
    open ( my $fh, '<', '/path/to/certificate.crt' );
    $cert = <$fh>;
    close $fh;

    open ( $fh, '<', '/path/to/key.key' );
    $key = <$fh>;
    close $key;
};

# Make the call.
my $response = $ua->post($request,
    Content_Type => 'form-data',
    Content => [
        domain => 'example.com',
        cert   => $cert,
        key    => $key,
    ],
);

# Create an object to decode the JSON.
# Sorted by keys and pretty-printed.
my $json_printer = JSON->new->pretty->canonical(1);

# UTF-8 encode before decoding to avoid wide character warnings.
my $content = JSON::decode_json(Encode::encode_utf8($response->decoded_content));

# Print output, UTF-8 encoded to avoid wide character warnings.
print Encode::encode_utf8($json_printer->encode($content));

Complete PHP code

<?php
// Log everything during development.
// If you run this on the CLI, set 'display_errors = On' in php.ini.
error_reporting(E_ALL);

// Declare your username and password for authentication.
$username = 'example';
$password = 'luggage12345';

// Define the API call.
$cpanel_host = 'localhost';
$request_uri = "https://$cpanel_host:2083/execute/SSL/install_ssl";

// Define the SSL certificate and key files.
$cert_file = realpath("/path/to/cert.crt");
$key_file = realpath("/path/to/key.key");

// Set up the payload to send to the server.
$payload = array(
    'domain' => "example.com",
    'cert'   => file_get_contents($cert_file),
    'key'    => file_get_contents($key_file)
);

// Set up the cURL request object.
$ch = curl_init( $request_uri );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_BASIC );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, $username . ':' . $password );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, false );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false );

// Set up a POST request with the payload.
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POST, true );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $payload );
curl_setopt( $ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );

// Make the call, and then terminate the cURL caller object.
$curl_response = curl_exec( $ch );
curl_close( $ch );

// Decode and validate output.
$response = json_decode( $curl_response );
if( empty( $response ) ) {
    echo "The cURL call did not return valid JSON:\n";
    die( $response );
} elseif ( !$response->status ) {
    echo "The cURL call returned valid JSON, but reported errors:\n";
    die( $response->errors[0] . "\n" );
}

// Print and exit.
die( print_r( $response ) );
?>
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