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Installing your certificate

One page per server: Apache, nginx, cPanel, Plesk, IIS. Not sure the files are in the right order? Use the chain builder. Problems: incomplete chain, old certificate still showing.

Once your certificate is issued it will appear in your account, ready to copy or download. You will also receive it by email.

What you will have

  • Your certificate, for your domain (a file such as example_com.crt).
  • The CA bundle, also called the chain or intermediate certificates (a file such as example_com_CA.crt). It normally contains two certificates, one after the other.
  • Your private key, which you made with the CSR. It stays on your server and we never have it.

The file names on your download may differ a little. Your certificate is the one that names your domain, and the bundle is the one with the authority's certificates. Whichever you use, put your certificate first, then the bundle.

Apache (2.4.8 or newer)

Join your certificate and the bundle into one file, with your certificate first:

cat example_com.crt example_com_CA.crt > example.com-fullchain.crt

Then point Apache at it:

SSLCertificateFile    /path/example.com-fullchain.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/example.com.key

Test the configuration with apachectl configtest, then reload Apache.

Older Apache (before 2.4.8)

These versions need the bundle named separately:

SSLCertificateFile      /path/example_com.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile   /path/example.com.key
SSLCertificateChainFile /path/example_com_CA.crt

nginx

nginx needs your certificate and the bundle joined into one file, with your certificate first:

cat example_com.crt example_com_CA.crt > example.com-fullchain.crt
ssl_certificate     /path/example.com-fullchain.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /path/example.com.key;

Test with nginx -t, then reload nginx.

Plesk

Install it into the same certificate entry you created when you made the CSR, so the certificate matches the private key already stored in Plesk. Do not make a new one.

  1. Open Websites & Domains, your domain, then SSL/TLS Certificates.
  2. Click the name of the certificate you created for the CSR.
  3. In the section for uploading certificate files, paste your certificate into Certificate (*.crt) and the CA bundle into CA certificate (*.ca-bundle).
  4. Click Upload Certificate.
  5. Go to Hosting & DNS → Hosting Settings for the domain (or Websites & Domains → Hosting Settings), tick SSL/TLS support and choose the certificate in the Certificate list, then click OK.

Menu names can differ slightly between Plesk versions.

Windows / IIS

  1. Save your certificate as a .crt or .cer file on the server where you created the CSR.
  2. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, click your server name, then Server Certificates.
  3. Click Complete Certificate Request and choose the file. Give it a friendly name and click OK.
  4. Expand Sites, right-click your site, choose Edit Bindings, then add (or edit) the https binding on port 443 and pick your certificate.

If Windows says the chain is incomplete, also install the CA bundle into the Intermediate Certification Authorities store.

cPanel

  1. Open SSL/TLS → Install an SSL Website.
  2. Choose the domain and paste the certificate and the CA bundle.
  3. Click Install.

After installing, test your site with our free certificate checker. It shows whether the whole chain is being sent. If you get stuck, call 03333 444 205 or use our contact form.

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