loading ssl_certificate from a variable

[daveb]

Hello,

I'm trying to load the cert/key from a variable, based on the documentation
here:

https://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_ssl_module.html#ssl_certificate

Using this configuration:

<snip>
 server {
        listen       19099 ssl;

        set $mycert "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- ...";
        set $mypkey "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- ...";
        ssl_certificate "data:$mycert";  
        ssl_certificate_key "data:$mypkey";

<snip>

When I connect to port 19099, nginx reports this error (v 1.19.7)

[error] 16408#0: *1 cannot load certificate "data:": PEM_read_bio_X509_AUX()
failed (SSL: error:0909006C:PEM routines:get_name:no start line:Expecting:
TRUSTED CERTIFICATE) while SSL handshaking, client: 127.0.0.1, server:
0.0.0.0:19099

I realize that this might not be a great idea, but I don't understand why
it's not working. Can someone please explain what's wrong with the config? 

Thanks,
Dave

Posted at Nginx Forum: https://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,291902,291902#msg-291902