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To enable secure login and other administrative functions over SSL in WordPress, the latest version, 2.1, in conjunction with a plugin, provides a easy method of securing WordPress credentials. Here’s how I upgraded from Wordpress 2.0 to 2.1 on a server running Apache 1.3.x on Slackware 10.0.

1. Create two virtual hosts with identical names and DocumentRoots, one running under SSL and one running regular http (i.e. add SSL virtual host to /etc/apache/mod_ssl.conf and regular virtual host to /etc/apache/httpd.conf).
2. Follow WordPress upgrade procedures; install and activate plugin.
   1. Backup local wordpress files, e.g. tar cfjv packed_files.tbz2 /directoryToPack
   2. Backup database (using plugin or otherwise).
   3. Disable plugins.
   4. Get latest Wordpress; download, unzip, overwrite files.
   5. Test (if it doesn’t work, restore your files from backup and stop here)
   6. If it works, update plugins as needed.
   7. Reactivate plugins and test, one by one.
   8. Download, install and activate a copy of the WordPress Secure-Admin SSL Plugin from haris.tv. The version from wp-plugins.org contains a bug that was fixed on haris.tv. Thank you, Haris!