NodeJS, usage of private ca with express.js - node.js

Question

I am trying to create an https/express server with a server certificate signed by a custom CA.
Here is my code:
var express = require('express');
var https = require('https');
var fs = require('fs');
var app = express();
var config = {
key: fs.readFileSync('cert/server.key'),
cert: fs.readFileSync('cert/server.crt'),
ca: fs.readFileSync('cert/ca.crt')
};
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.send('Hello world');
});
https.createServer(config,app).listen(443);
Here is how i create my CA and my server cert :
### CA self signed
openssl genrsa -des3 -out ca.key 1024
openssl req -new -key ca.key -out ca.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in ca.csr -signkey ca.key -out ca.crt
### server cert signed by CA
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server_pass.key 1024
openssl rsa -in server_pass.key -out server.key
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey ca.key -out server.crt
I don’t think I’m doing it wrong on the openssl part, I create my CA, by definition auto-signed, then I create my server key and csr and then sign it with my CA cert.
I have tried this same nodeJS code with à directly self-signed certificate and in that case it works well.
I assume the problem is that my server cert is neither auto signed nor signed by a public CA as if express didn’t used my custom ca in the config object.
Can someone confirm or invalidate my supposition?
Cheers,
Paul

Answer 1

OK I found out I was using the wrong parameter when signing my key.
I was using: -signkey ca.key
but I should use, when the signing element is a CA file: -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -CAcreateserial
Now it works