Close Window x

Frequently Asked Questions

Installing Third-Party SSLs on Plesk Shared Hosting

Print this Article
Last Updated: June 25, 2015 10:21 AM

Our Plesk shared hosting accounts (more info) support SSL certificates from us (which we install for you), as well as third-party vendors (which you must install yourself). Here's the process for the third-party SSL cert installation:

  1. Get a Dedicated IP Address (Shared hosting only) - Though you don't need a dedicated IP address to install an SSL on your cPanel account, having one ensures all visitors can successfully establish an SSL connection. For more information, see Adding or Removing a Dedicated IP Address from Your Hosting Account.

    If you add a dedicated IP address to your account, contact customer support to finalize its set up.

  2. Generate a CSR — You must provide the company providing your SSL certificate a certificate signing request (CSR) from your Plesk shared hosting account.
  3. Uploading and installing your SSL certificate — After receiving the SSL certificate, you need to upload it to your shared hosting account, and then "turn it on" for the site you want to secure.

Generating a CSR

To complete these steps, you need to have set up your Plesk account and already added the domain name you want to secure with an SSL certificate.

To Generate a CSR

  1. Log in to your Account Manager.
  2. Click Web Hosting.
  3. Next to the account you want to use, click Manage.
  4. In the section for the domain name you want to use, click Show More.
  5. Click Secure Your Sites.
  6. Click Add SSL Certificate.
  7. Enter a Certificate name, complete the fields in the Settings section, and then click Request.

    The information you enter in the Settings section must exactly match the information you provide the SSL vendor.

  8. Click the name of the certificate you added to Plesk.

Your certificate signing request displays in the CSR section.

To get your SSL certificate, you need to provide this CSR to the company issuing the certificate.

Once they've issued the certificate, they'll provide you a CRT file, which is your SSL certificate.

Uploading and Installing Your Certificate

To complete these steps, you need to have the CRT file provided to you by the company who issued your SSL certificate.

To Upload Your Certificate

  1. Log in to your Account Manager.
  2. Click Web Hosting.
  3. Next to the account you want to use, click Manage.
  4. In the section for the domain name you want to use, click Show More.
  5. Click Secure Your Sites.
  6. Use the Upload the certificate files section to upload the CRT file from your local machine as the Certificate, and then click Send Files.

To Activate Your Certificate

  1. Go to the Websites & Domains tab.
  2. In the section for the domain name you want to use, click Show More.
  3. Click Hosting Settings.
  4. In the Security section, select SSL support.
  5. Select the Certificate you created, and then click OK.

That's it! To make sure your SSL is working, you can check it at SSL Shopper.

Technical Info

Unlike some of our other hosting platforms, you do not necessarily need a dedicated IP address to have an SSL certificate on our Plesk shared hosting accounts. This is because it uses the Server Name Indication (SNI) protocol. However, not all browsers support SNI, which means that without a dedicated IP address, some users will not be able to successfully establish a connection over SSL.