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Pre-Requisites for an SSL Certificate
Before obtaining an SSL certificate, you'll need to perform a couple of tasks:
1. Make sure you have purchased a dedicated IP address. Each SSL will require its own IP.
2. Make sure the SSL is being installed on a cPanel account that doesn't have an SSL installed already (i.e. for an addon domain). Each cPanel account will support a maximum of 1x SSL certificate
3. Generate your CSR/RSA key (see below)
What Is a CSR?
A CSR is an acronym for Certificate Signing Request. You need to a CSR to obtain your certificate. The SSL is generated using the information in your CSR.
How to Generate a CSR
NOTE: Make sure you keep a copy of your CSR and RSA key. They will be needed in the future. We do not keep any copies.
First, login to your WHM (WebHostManager) control panel (via https://yourdomain.com:2087 - replacing yourdomain.com with your actual domain name or server IP).
On the left navigation bar, scroll down to "SSL/TLS" and click on the "Generate a SSL Certificate and Signing Request"
You will then be presented with a series of fields. Here is how to fill them in:
| Email Address the Cert will be sent to: |
This is the email address that will receive a copy of the CSR and RSA key |
| Email |
The email address that will be displayed on the certificate
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| Password |
The challenge password. Note, do not use any special characters here. Use numbers and letters only |
| Host to make cert for |
The URL which the certificate will operate on. Do take note that an SSL certificate is very precise with its URL's. An SSL will only work with one absolute URL.
For example if you generate a certificate for www.innohosting.com then it will only work for www.innohosting.com and not innohosting.com (notice the missing www. prefix). Likewise if you generate a certificate for: innohosting.com then it will only work with innohosting.com and not www.innohosting.com (note the added www. prefix).
The same concept applies to subdomains. An SSL generated for support.innohosting.com will only work for support.innohosting.com and nothing else (such as www.innohosting.com, innohosting.com <anything-here>.innohosting.com.
As such please make sure you are certain you fill this field accurately. You cannot change your mind once the certificate has been submitted and you will need to purchase a new certificate if you want any aspect changed. |
| City |
City which your company office is based |
| State |
State/county in which your company office is based |
| Company Name |
Your company name |
| Key Size |
Encryption strength - Use 2048 bits. Anything less will result in an error later on. |
Click on "Create". You will be presented with three items.
- Certificate signing request
- Certificate (self signed)
- RSA Key
We do not need the self signed certificate and you should not provide us this certificate. It is not your SSL certificate and using this will result in an error on your website.
We need just the Certificate Signing Request and the RSA key. Save both of the keys as you will need them later on and when renewing the certificate.
During the SSL process, you may be asked about the Web Server Type. Please choose "cPanel" or "cPanel/WHM".
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