When using Apache with SSL, does the entire certificate specified with “SSLCertificateFile” directive get handed to the client?

When using Apache with SSL, does the entire certificate specified with “SSLCertificateFile” directive get handed to the client?

If so, does it contain the private key as well as the public key?

Only the certificate (which contains the public key and extra information such as the identity of the machine, but not the private key) is sent to the client. If there is a chain to a CA (either via SSLCertificateChainFile or via SSLCACertificatePath or SSLCACertificateFile), the chain of certificates should be sent. You’ll see the full chain with the -showcerts options with openssl s_client:

echo | openssl s_client -showcerts -connect www.your.host.example:443

You may, but don’t have to put the private key in the same file, it can be separated into SSLCertificateKeyFile.

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