How do I install an SSL Certificate? (Dedicated Server, Virtual Private Server and Reseller Plans)

Updated by Josselyn Rodriguez

With just a few steps, an SSL Certificate can be installed onto your Dedicated Server, Virtual Private Server, or Reseller Plan using WHM/cPanel.

If you are unfamiliar with what an SSL is please refer to this article. If you do not have a Dedicated Server, Virtual Private Server, or a reseller plan, and instead have a Shared Hosting plan, please contact us at support@canadianwebhosting.com for assistance with installing your SSL certificate. To see how much SSL certificates cost, please refer to our SSL Certificates page.

Using WHM

  1. Log in to WHM (i.e. https://serverIP:2087/).
  2. Click SSL/TLS on the left navigation menu - you may also use the search function.
  3. Click the Install an SSL Certificate and Setup the Domain button.
  4. In the Domain section, find and select the domain you wish to install the certificate for, leaving the IP address field as Auto-discover.
  5. There are 3 fields available. Fill them in as needed and click the Submit button when you are done.
Certificate – This is your server certificate that was issued to your domain.
Private Key – This is your private key that was created during the generation process.
Certificate Authority Bundle (optional) – These are your intermediate certificates that allow browsers and devices to understand who issued your trusted certificate.
Note: WHM will automatically fetch the CA Bundle from a public repository. If you forgot to save these files, download the appropriate CA/Chain Certificate for your certificate from here: www.thesslstore.com/knowledgebase/ssl-support/ca-bundle/
  1. Once you’ve entered the certificate files into the correct boxes, click Install.

Changing SSL manually from SSH

If the intermediate certificates did not successfully install and configure accordingly using the instructions above, please refer to the instructions below on how to manually install them directly in Apache. If you do not have access to your Apache server, please contact us for additional assistance.

  1. Identify the VirtualHost for the domain name (the one using port 443). This can typically be accessed in the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file. Apache will be listening to both 80 and 443 for the non-encrypted and encrypted data respectively.
  2. In the VirtualHost or the separate configuration file, use the following code and adjust the file names to match your certificate files.
<VirtualHost 192.168.1.1:443>
DocumentRoot /var/www/html
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /path/to/your_domain_name.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/your_private.key
SSLCertificateChainFile /path/to/CA.crt
</VirtualHost>
SSLCertificateFile is your certificate file (e.g., your_domain_name.crt).
SSLCertificateKeyFile is the .key file generated when you created the CSR (e.g., your_private.key).
SSLCertificateChainFile is the intermediate certificate file.
  1. Restart the Apache/httpd service once done.

Having trouble? Contact us and our team will be happy to help.

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