title: ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR browser error message while running a https server in nodejs express
body: <p>I have a number of nodejs applications running on Express using the code below.  They all run fine using code similar to the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code>fs = require 'fs'                                                               
  https = require 'https'                                                         
  express = require 'express'                                                     
  server_port = 3000                                                              
  keys_dir = 'keys/'                                                              server_options = {
    key  : fs.readFileSync(keys_dir + 'privatekey.pem'), 
    cert : fs.readFileSync(keys_dir + 'certificate.pem')                          }                                                                                             app = express.createServer(server_options)
  app.listen server_port 
  console.log "HTTPS Server started on port #{server_port}"  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, when trying to create a new application using this code I see a ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR when starting the https server.  Any idea what is causing this problem?</p>