Installing an SSL certificate on Plesk Server Administrator 7

Part one: Download and save your certificates

1. Open the email we sent you, that contains the certificate for your domain name.

2. Copy the certificate, including the -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and -----END CERTIFICATE----- lines.

3. Paste the certificate into a blank document in a text editor. Use an editor that will not add characters, such as TextPad.

4. Save the document. We recommend that you name it YourDomainName.crt and save it in your Web server's default directory for SSL certificates.

   We recommend that you also back up your certificate on another computer or storage device.

5. Confirm which certificate you purchased, and determine which set of Root and Intermediate certificates to download.

   To confirm which certificate you purchased, review your order confirmation.

   • If you purchased SBS Instant, download set A below.

   • If you purchased SBS Secure or Secure Plus, download set B below.

   A -- SBS Instant

   • Instant Validation SBS Intermediate 2 CA
   • Instant Validation AddTrust Intermediate 1 CA
   • Instant Validation UTN Global Root CA

   -OR-

   B -- SBS Secure and Secure Plus

   • Full Validation Intermediate CA
   • Full Validation AddTrust Root CA

6. Download the Root-Intermediate set for your domain name certificate. To download, right-click each certificate file name and select Save Target As.

   Save the Root and Intermediate certificates to the same directory where you saved the certificate for your domain name.

Part two: Install the certificate for your domain name

1. Log on to the Plesk 7 Control Panel.
2. From the left-hand menu, select Domains.
3. Click the domain name that the certificate is for.
4. Click the Certificates menu item.

5. Click Browse and navigate to the certificate for your domain name. Select it, then click Send File. This will upload and install the certificate against the corresponding private key.

   The certificate name will now appear in the list of certificates at the bottom of the page.

6. Select the name of the certificate from the list.

7. In the box on the page labelled CA Certificate, paste your Intermediate certificate(s) and Root certificate.

   Paste the lowest-ranking Intermediate certificate first (for SBS Instant, this is *Intermediate2CA.crt), and the Root certificate at the bottom. For example, for SBS Instant, the resulting chain will look something like this:

   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   InstantValidationSBSIntermediate2CA.crt
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   InstantValidationAddTrustUTNServerIntermediate1CA.crt
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   InstantValidationUTN-USERFirst-HardwareGlobalRoot.crt
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----

   (Note: no blank line between the end of one certificate and the start of the next.)

8. Click Send Text.
9. Click Up Level, and then click Setup.
10. In the SSL Certificate drop-down menu, select the certificate for your domain name.
11. In the left-hand menu, click Server.
12. Click Service Management.
13. Stop and Start the Apache process. Simply restarting Apache will NOT work -- you must stop the service, then start it again to complete the installation.

Note: When you add a certificate, it is not installed automatically onto the domain or assigned to an IP address, but only added to the Certificate repository.

You can assign a certificate to an IP address at the Client's IP pool, at the IP aliasing management page, and during hosting creation on an exclusively granted IP.