Generate a CSR in cPanel

What is a CSR?

CSR stands for Certificate Signing Request. It is a block of text that holds your domain name and company details. You give it to the certificate seller. They use it to make your certificate. When you make a CSR, cPanel also makes a private key. The private key is a secret file that must match your certificate. Keep it safe.

Details you will need

• The domain name, such as example.com.
• Your city, state and two-letter country code.
• Your company name, or your own name for a personal site.
• A valid email address.

Steps

1. Log in to cPanel from the link in your welcome email or from your client area.
2. Open SSL/TLS in the Security section.
3. Under Certificate Signing Requests (CSR), click Generate, view, or delete SSL certificate signing requests.

   

   

4. Choose a key type. RSA, 2048 bit is a common choice.
5. In the Domains box, type your domain. For a wildcard certificate, type *.example.com.
6. Fill in City, State and Country. Use the full state name, not short letters.
7. Fill in Company and, if you like, Company Division.
8. Enter your Email.
9. Click Generate.
10. cPanel shows the CSR text. Copy all of it, including the lines that start with five dashes.

What next?

1. Paste the CSR into the order form of your certificate seller.
2. Prove you own the domain when they ask.
3. When you get the certificate, install it in SSL/TLS, then Manage SSL sites.

cPanel keeps the private key for you. It will fill it in when you install the certificate with the same domain.

Need help? Open a ticket at https://secure.hostvento.com/submitticket.php.

Quick recap

• A CSR is the request text for an SSL certificate.
• Find it under SSL/TLS in cPanel.

  

• Fill in the domain and details, then click Generate.

  

• Copy the CSR and give it to the seller.