Creating a Self-Signed Certificate

A self-signed certificate is a personalized SSL certificate that you generate for your website without needing to purchase one from a trusted certificate authority. It serves as an alternative to the shared server certificate, although it may not be trusted by all browsers. Follow the steps below to create and install a self-signed certificate for your website.

Steps to Create a Self-Signed Certificate

1. Access the SSL Menu

   • In the main dashboard, click on SSL Certificates under Account Manager.

2. Select "Create Your Own Self-Signed Certificate"

   • In the SSL menu, select the radio button for "Create your own self-signed certificate."

3. Enter Your Information

   • Fill in the required details about your organization and yourself.
   • You will need to provide:
     • Country
     • State
     • Locality
     • Organization
     • Organizational Unit
     • Common Name (the exact domain name the certificate will be associated with, e.g., https://www.example.com).
   • Note: You can refer to a list of country codes here.

4. Save the Certificate

   • After entering your information, click Save to generate the certificate.
   • You will be taken back to the SSL menu.

Understanding Non-Trusted Certificates

Although self-signed certificates provide a high level of encryption, they are not trusted by browsers because they are not issued by a recognized certificate authority. This will cause visitors to your website to see a security warning when they access secure pages.

• If you’re okay with the warning and are not running a commercial website, a self-signed certificate should be sufficient.
• For businesses or e-commerce sites, it’s highly recommended to purchase a trusted certificate to avoid damaging your website's reputation and user trust.

Uploading Files to Your Secure Site

Once your SSL certificate is installed, you'll need to upload your files to the secure directory:

1. Upload to the private_html Directory

   • All secure files should be uploaded to the /domains/domain.com/private_html directory. You can use either the built-in file manager or FTP to upload files.
   • Example:
     • /domains/domain.com/private_html/index.html ? https://www.yourdomain.com/index.html
     • /domains/domain.com/private_html/secure/index.html ? https://www.yourdomain.com/secure/index.html

2. Note on private_html

   • The private_html directory works the same way as the public_html directory.
   • If SSL is not enabled on your account, you will not see the private_html directory.

You can refer to this article if you need help with navigating to the private_html directory.