This guide will take you through the entire process to make your website fully secure with the Plesk Web Hosting Manager.
- Step 1: Generating a CSR and Private Key
- Step 2: Order and Configure the SSL Certificate
- Step 3: Install the SSL Certificate on Plesk
- Step 4: Check the SSL is working
Step 1. Generating a CSR and Private Key
1: Login to your Plesk Web Hosting Manager and navigate to the dashboard.
2: Expand your domain name and click on SSL/TLS Certificates under Security
3: On the right side of the window, click on Advanced Settings
4: Click on Add SSL/TLS Certificate
5: Fill in all your details accordingly
City: Complete name of the city, no abbreviations.
State: Full name of the state.
Country: Choose your country from the dropdown list.
Company: If you are a business; Enter your legal entity name. If you're not a business, any value entered will not be used in your certificate.
Company Division: If you are a business; Write the appropriate division of your company. It is best to use something generic such as "IT".
Email: Enter your email address
6: After filling in all your details, click on the Request button
7: After you click on the Request button, your CSR and Private Key Should be generated. Scroll down the page to view it.
Please keep this window open as you will need to copy your CSR Code to be used shortly.
Step 2. Order and Configure the SSL Certificate
Now we need to order an SSL Certificate. If you visit our SSL Certificates List page, you will have a selection of Certificates you can order. If you require any assistance with selecting an SSL Certificate, please feel free to contact our sales team and they will be happy to assist.
1: Order the SSL and complete the checkout.
2: Once you have completed the SSL Certificate Purchase you can begin the configuration process. This can be started by going into your SSLTrust account and managing your recent purchase.
You then will need to click the Submit Configuration button to begin the configuration process.
3: You now need to paste in the CSR you generated in your cPanel Web Hosting. This includes the lines:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST---- -----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----
Select Plesk for your Web Server Type.
You will need to also enter the Site Administrator Contact Information.
This information is to be of the individual who is responsible to approve and SSL Certificate. If it is a business SSL, it needs to be a contact under the business.
The Technical Contact Information is the details of the individual responsible for the installation and management of the Certificate.
If you have ordered a business SSL, you will also be required to enter your business details. These should be the correct address and phone number and legal entity name. They will be required to be validated by the Certificate Authority, any mistakes will cause delays. More information on Business Validation can be found here.
4: Click Continue to go to the next Step. Here you need to select the Authentication Method to validate your domain name. This is required to prove you own the domain name and have permission to issue an SSL Certificate for the domain.
Select the method that will be the easiest for you to use; File-Based Authentication ( HTTP / HTTPS ), CNAME Based Authentication ( DNS ) or Certificate Approver Email.
If you have access to one of the listed emails, this can be the quickest method
Click Continue/Submit to finish the Configuration process.
After you complete the domain validation via your selected method, your SSL will be issued. If you ordered a Business SSL, you will need to wait for the Certificate Authority to complete the Business address and phone validation. If the validation has not progressed, or you have not received your Certificate after some time, please contact our support team so we can check on its status.
Step 3. Install the SSL Certificate on Plesk
When your SSL Certificate has been issued, you will be emailed the Certificate Directly from the Certificate Authority. You can also download it from your SSLTrust Portal. Downloading it from the SSLTrust Portal is a good option as we format the certificate in an easy to use way.
Again; View your certificate management page within SSLTrust
1: Click on the Manage button and collect/download your certificate
2: Go to the first column and click on copy to clipboard
3: Head back over to your Plesk Dashboard and go to the SSL/TLS setting again.
4: On the right side of the window, click on Advanced Settings again
5: Click on your domain name
6: Scroll down and find Upload the Certificate as a text input boxes
Paste in your CRT which you had previously copied to your clipboard and paste in the contents.
You will also have to manually copy and paste your CABUNDLE (Intermediate Certificate) which is the second column where you downloaded your certificate.
After you’ve filled both the certificates, scroll down and click on the Upload Certificate button
Once you’ve uploaded both your certificates, you will now need to manually activate it from the hosting settings.
7: Head back to your Dashboard and click on your domain name. Click on the Hosting Settings on the top right corner
You’ll now need to select your domain name under certificate and make sure you turn on SSL/TLS Support under both Web Scripting and Security.
Scroll Down and click on Apply Settings.
Step 4. Check the SSL is working
It is a good idea to go to your website and see if it works via https://www.yourdomain.com
We also recommend you use this tool to check the install has been completed successfully: www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/
You may need to get your web developer, or update your website yourself, to make sure all files use https:// and all links to your site and within your website use https://
If you run a server test to check your SSL and find that you receive a rating less than an A, you may have all versions of TLS turned on. You’ll need to turn TLS 1.0 and 1.1 off and leave TLS 1.2 on.
You can do this by accessing your server via SSH and pasting in a few commands. You can find the commands here.
/usr/local/psa/bin/server_pref -s | grep ssl-protocols
#ssl-protocols: TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2
/usr/local/psa/bin/server_pref -u -ssl-protocols "TLSv1.2"
/usr/local/psa/bin/server_pref -s | grep ssl-protocols
#ssl-protocols: TLSv1.2If you require any assistance with your SSL Installation please contact our friendly support team.