While SSL certificate verification through Plesk control panel can be easy, ensuring that your Apache Server passes the SSL test from the Qualys SSL Test can be a little tricky. Here are two steps which you need to run from the linux command line to get an A rating when you check ssl certificate in Apache
Step 1: SSL certificate protocol update
# vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf and change/enable the following parameters in the ssl.conf file:
SSLProtocol all -SSLv2 -SSLv3
SSLCipherSuite ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:AES128-GCM-SHA256:AES256-GCM-SHA384:AES128-SHA:AES256-SHA:AES:CAMELLIA:DES-CBC3-SHA:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!MD5:!PSK:!aECDH:!EDH-DSS-DES-CBC3-SHA:!EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA:!KRB5-DES-CBC3-SHA:!DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:!DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:!DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:!DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:!DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:!DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:!DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA128-SHA:!DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA
SSLHonorCipherOrder on
Step 2: Restart Plesk services and verify SSL
# /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/websrvmng -r and then retest the results, you should be doing fine.
Getting an A+ verfication with your SSL certificate checker is a key requirement for most ecommerce websites and the above steps would help you in other similar environments as well.