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 How to Generate a CSR for an SSL Certificate
Categories: CSR & Validation

How to Generate a CSR for an SSL Certificate

When you are requesting an SSL certificate and need a CSR. This article explains how to generate a CSR for an SSL certificate.

Generating a CSR is the first step you must perform in order to apply for an SSL Certificate.

This can be done from your web server control panel, and requires you to enter the following details about your website and organization:

  • Organization Name
  • Organizational unit: This describes the type of your organization. For e.g. Sole Proprietorship, Government Department, Public (Listed) Company, Private (Unlisted) Company, etc.
  • Country Code
  • State or Province
  • Locality
  • Common Name: This is the domain name for which you have purchased the SSL Certificate.
Note
  • The Common Name should match the domain name of the order. If you have purchased the SSL Certificate for yourdomain.com, you need to enter yourdomain.com as the Common Name.
  • For wildcard certificates, enter the Common Name as yourdomain.com. This means that the certificate will be issued for all sub-domains of yourdomain.com.
  • The SSL Certificate issued will be valid for yourdomain.com as well as www.yourdomain.com.

Once you enter these details, you will receive an encoded file – your CSR. This CSR can now be used to submit your SSL Certificate application to the Certificate Authority.

How to generate a CSR on a specific web server

If your website is hosted with us then Search for the article: Generating a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to generate a CSR.
If your website is hosted with another provider, then depending upon your web server/control panel, search for the article below:

  • cPanel

  • Plesk

  • Microsoft IIS 5.x & 6.x

  • Microsoft IIS 7.x

  • Apache & mod_ssl

  • NGINX

  • OS X Yosemite (10.10) Server

  • Others

Important

  • When generating your CSR, ensure that you set the key size to 2048-bit or higher.
  • If you get an error that says that the CSR is invalid, double-check the information entered while generating your CSR and generate a new CSR.
  • Ensure that you keep your private key confidential.