Keeping security in mind, the majority of webmasters would consider a passphrase to be used for an Apache SSL key. However, they fail to remember that to start it the key needs to be manually entered every time Apache needs to be started.
This could prove to be annoying. So if you want to do away with it, follow these steps.
Ensure you back it up just as you would any other activity is done on the server.
cp -rp www.key www.key.original
To continue, use OpenSSL to unencrypt the key. You should possess the passphrase to do this.
Run the command mentioned below:
openssl rsa -in www.key -out new.key
Restart the Apache after you have copied the new.key to www.key.
Once you have completed these steps, you will not need your passphrase to enter.