Category: SSL & HTTPS
Generate an SSL certificate with Let’s Encrypt
Most hosting providers will provide you with an SSL certificate. Really Simple SSL attempts to detect and enforce the installed SSL certificate automatically. If your hosting provider does not offer free SSL certificates, but does allow for the installation of third-party SSL certificates: you can generate a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate with Really Simple SSL. The below steps will guide you through the SSL generation process. Important Note: your Hosting Provider may restrict the generation/installation of third-party SSL certificates.
Converting a private.pem private key to an private.key RSA private key
On some hosting environments, you are asked to provide an RSA private key, usually in the private.key format. PHP does not offer an easy way to generate this, but on the command line this can be done very simply. Open the terminal on your computer, then type the following (private.pem should be the path to the actual file): openssl rsa -in private.pem -out private.key The new private.key will will now be generated.
Hosting Providers with Free SSL
Below you will find a list of known free SSL certificates per hosting provider. If your hosting provider is not listed, but does offer free SSL Please let us know. Known hosting providers with free certificates Hosting Providers Contabo Contabo’s SSL certificates are activated by default. If this is not the case on rare occasions, you can enable SSL in your hosting panel (cPanel) with AutoSSL. Activated by default and available in cPanel if needed. Instructions can be found here.
Renewing a Really Simple SSL Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
Really Simple SSL will let you know when your Let’s Encrypt certificate generated by Really Simple SSL is about to expire. Two weeks before the expiration date, you will see one of the following notices in your SSL settings dashboard: The SSL certificate has been renewed and requires manual installation in your hosting dashboard When the plugin has renewed the certificate but hasn’t been able to install the renewed certificate automatically, you will see the following notice: If you see
OCSP Stapling
OCSP Stapling OCSP stands for Online Certificate Status Protocol. It is a tool to check the certificate status in real-time. When a user visits your site, an OCSP request is generally made to the Certificate Authority that issued the SSL certificate. This is done to verify the SSL certificate hasn’t been revoked. Since this check is done in real-time it can create a short delay. This is where OCSP stapling comes in. In short, OCSP stapling saves the results of