The panel can both issue free certificates itself and install a certificate you have purchased. Start by deciding which you need — see What is an SSL certificate and why does my website need one? if you are unsure.
A free certificate (recommended for most sites)
For the great majority of websites a free Let's Encrypt certificate is entirely sufficient, and the panel issues and renews it automatically.
- Go to Sites and open the site for editing.
- Enable Secure connection (SSL).
- Choose to issue a Let's Encrypt certificate and confirm.
The certificate is issued within a minute or so, provided the domain already resolves to this server, and renewed automatically thereafter.
Installing a purchased certificate
1. Create a certificate request
Go to Web-server settings → SSL certificates → CSR → Create and fill in the form: the domain name, and your organisation and location details.
The request then appears in the list. Select it, click Information and copy the contents of the CSR contents field.
The matching private key stays on the server and is never sent anywhere — which is why the request has to be generated here rather than elsewhere.
2. Submit the request
In your client area, open the certificate among your services, start the SSL configuration wizard and paste in the CSR you copied.
3. Pass the domain verification
Choose a verification method:
- By email — a message is sent to an administrative address of the domain; confirm by following the link in it.
- By HTTP — place a text file with the specified name and contents in the root of your site, then follow the verification link.
Once verification succeeds, the issued certificate appears in your client area.
4. Install the certificate
Copy the contents of the CRT and CA fields from your client area. In the panel, select the CSR in the list and click Confirm, then fill in the form:
- Certificate — the CRT contents;
- Certificate chain — the CA contents.
Tick Save request and click OK.
5. Assign it to the site
Go to Sites, select the domain and click Edit. Enable Secure connection (SSL), choose the certificate from the SSL certificate list, and tick Redirect HTTP-requests to HTTPS if you want visitors sent to the secure version automatically.
Check the result
Open your site over https:// and confirm it loads without warnings. For a thorough check use SSL Labs — pay particular attention to the completeness of the certificate chain, which is the usual thing to go wrong when the Certificate chain field is filled in incorrectly or left empty.
If the browser still shows a warning
Check that the certificate covers the exact name being opened: a certificate for example.com does not cover www.example.com unless that name was included. If the padlock does not appear even though the certificate is valid, some content on the page is probably still being loaded over plain HTTP — check that links to images, scripts and styles use https.
If you cannot resolve it, open a ticket from your client area with the domain name.
