How to Generate a CSR

This article shows you how to generate a CSR in the hosting control panel, which is needed to get a SSL certificate.

What is a CSR? CSR stands for Certificate Signing Request and is a block of encrypted text that is generated by the web server that the SSL certificate will be used on. It contains the information needed for your certificate like the organisation name, domain name (often referred to as the 'common name') and location details. It also has the public key that will be included in your SSL certificate. The private key that corresponds with the public key is usually generated at the same time when you create a CSR.

In order to generate a CSR in your hosting control panel your will first need a dedicated IP address. Depending on your hosting plan your will get one free (Gold plan) or have to purchase one. Please send us a support ticket to organise your IP address. Once this has been assigned to your account and the website has been switched to a dedicated IP address from a shared IP address you will now see a new tab called 'SSL', which is highlighted in the below image.

Once you have clicked on the SSL tab you will need to click on the 'Generate CSR' button.

Next enter all the relevant details for you SSL certificate and click 'Generate CSR' button again.

You will now be presented with the CSR code. You copy and paste this into your SSL certificate application. Remember to include the -----BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- and the -----END NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST----- when you copy and paste.

When you get the SSL certificate back from your supplier then open the certificate in notepad or your favourite text editor and paste the certificate into the lower part of this form.