Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
173 lines (115 loc) · 11.1 KB

guide.en-ie.md

File metadata and controls

173 lines (115 loc) · 11.1 KB
title excerpt updated
Web Hosting - How to activate a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate
Find out how to activate or regenerate a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on your Web Hosting plan
2025-02-20

Objective

You can use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates to encrypt any exchange of data on your website. This prevents unauthorized persons and malicious robots from viewing requests to or from your website.

OVHcloud offers several types of SSL certificates for OVHcloud web hosting solutions. They are set out in our guide on Managing an SSL certificate on a web hosting plan. SSL certificates are essential for the security of your website.

There are three types of SSL certificates:

  • Domain Validation (DV)
  • Organization Validation (OV)
  • Extended Validation (EV)

SSL encryption levels are the same between these certificate types.

The main difference lies in the level of checks that will be carried out by the Certificate Authority (CA) that issues the SSL certificate and attests to its authenticity.

Let's Encrypt is a free, automated, open, non-profit certification authority. You can find more information on https://letsencrypt.org/en/about/.

Find out how to activate or regenerate a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on your OVHcloud web hosting plan.

Requirements

  • You have access to the OVHcloud Control Panel.
  • You plan to order an SSL secured OVHcloud web hosting plan or you have a web hosting plan in your customer account without an SSL certificate installed.
  • You manage a domain name for which you have exclusive rights. The domain name must not already be linked to an SSL certificate.

Instructions

1. Pre-assign the future Let's Encrypt SSL certificate to your domain/subdomain(s)

Unlike other certificates, the Let's Encrypt free SSL certificate can be activated for multiple domain names/subdomains at once. This is limited to 99 domains or subdomains per web hosting plan.

Therefore, before installing the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, you will need to prepare all domain names/subdomains that will benefit from this SSL certificate.

To do this, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel.
  2. Click on the Web Cloud{.action} tab.
  3. In the left-hand column, click on the Hosting plans{.action} menu.
  4. Select the web hosting plan concerned.
  5. On the page that appears, click on the Multisite{.action} tab.

The table contains all of the domain names/subdomains already declared as multisites on your web hosting plan. The "SSL" column shows the activation status of SSL on your domain names/subdomains declared in multisites.

manage SSL{.thumbnail}

In this column three states can appear:

Status Description
Enabled An SSL certificate has already been enabled for this multisite entry. If this is the case, check that the SSL certificate is a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate. If so, first refer to the special case located further down in this guide. Otherwise, please refer to our guide on Managing an SSL certificate if you would like to delete your current SSL certificate (free or paid), then replace it with a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate.
To generate An SSL certificate has been activated for this multisite entry, but it is still not technically active. To do this, you will need to regenerate the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate so that it includes the new domain names/subdomains declared in multisite and for which the status To generate is present.
Disabled No SSL certificates are enabled for this multisite entry. To enable it, follow the steps below.

[!primary]

If one of your domain names/subdomains has not yet been declared on your web hosting plan, please refer to the following guides to resolve this situation:

In the Multisite{.action} tab, and to pre-assign the Let’s Encrypt SSL option to a domain/subdomain declared as multisite on your web hosting plan, perform the following actions:

  1. In the table containing all the domain names/subdomains already declared as multisites on your web hosting plan, click on the ...{.action} button to the right of the row for the domain name/subdomain concerned.
  2. Then click Modify domain{.action}.
  3. In the window that pops up, tick the SSL{.action} box, then click Next{.action}.
  4. In the new window that pops up, you will find a summary of your domain/subdomain configuration. Click Confirm{.action} to apply the requested change for this multisite entry.

Once the modification has been validated, the status in the SSL column for the multisite entry concerned will change from Disabled to To generate after a few seconds. If you have other domain names/subdomains concerned in the multisite records of your web hosting plan, repeat the operation as many times as necessary.

2. Enable a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate

Before you proceed with this configuration, ensure that the previous step has been completed correctly. In the Multisite{.action} tab of your web hosting plan, at least one domain/subdomain must have the SSL option with the status Enabled or To generate to install the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate.

Warning

Before you continue, please ensure that all of the domain names and/or subdomains included in your future Let's Encrypt SSL certificate:

  • Point to your web hosting plan’s IP address.
  • Are declared as multisites on your web hosting plan.

To check this, you can refer to our guides:

To activate your Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel.
  2. Click on the Web Cloud{.action} tab.
  3. In the left-hand column, click on the Hosting plans{.action} menu.
  4. Select the web hosting plan concerned.
  5. On the page that appears, stay in the General Information{.action} tab.
  6. Go to the box labelled Configuration.
  7. To the right of SSL certificate, click on the ...{.action} button, then Order an SSL certificate{.action}.

Order an SSL certificate{.thumbnail}

In the window that pops up, select Free certificate (Let's Encrypt){.action} from the list of possible choices, then click Next{.action} to confirm the SSL activation request.

managessl{.thumbnail}

It may take several hours to set up the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate.

To verify that the installation is complete, perform the following actions:

  1. Log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel.
  2. Click on the Web Cloud{.action} tab.
  3. In the left-hand column, click on the Hosting plans{.action} menu.
  4. Select the web hosting plan concerned.
  5. On the page that appears, stay in the General Information{.action} tab.
  6. Go to the box labelled Configuration.

If everything is finished, you will find a value below SSL certificate equivalent to this: Yes - LETSENCRYPT - DV.

managessl{.thumbnail}

Your Let's Encrypt SSL certificate is now installed and active. You can now use it with your new website(s) by switching, for example, your new website(s) to HTTPS.

Special case: Regenerate the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on a web hosting plan

When you use your web hosting plan, you may need to add multisite domain names/subdomains at a later stage, for which you will need to enable the SSL option.

Even if you have already activated a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate for some of your domain/subdomains, you can still add new ones (subject to the 99 domain/subdomain names specified earlier in this guide).

To do this, perform the following actions in order:

  1. Log in to your OVHcloud Control Panel.
  2. Pre-assign the Let's Encrypt SSL certificate to your new domain/subdomains as detailed in Part 1 of this guide.
  3. Click on the Web Cloud{.action} tab.
  4. In the left-hand column, click on the Hosting plans{.action} menu.
  5. Select the web hosting plan concerned.
  6. On the page that appears, stay in the General Information{.action} tab.
  7. Go to the box labelled Configuration.
  8. To the right of SSL certificate, click the ...{.action} button, then Regenerate SSL certificate{.action}.

managessl{.thumbnail}

Take note of the information displayed in the window that appears, then click Confirm{.action}. Then wait for your SSL certificate to be regenerated.

This step may take several hours.

Warning

Let's Encrypt, the authority that provides the SSL certificate, limits the number of regenerations per week to five{.external}. As a result, be vigilant about any regenerations you may undertake in the short term.

managessl{.thumbnail}

Your Let's Encrypt SSL certificate is now regenerated and active. You can now use it with your new website(s) by switching, for example, your new website(s) to HTTPS.

Go further

Web Hosting - Managing an SSL certificate

Web Hosting - Switch your website to HTTPS

Common errors related to securing your website with SSL

For specialized services (SEO, development, etc.), contact OVHcloud partners.

If you would like assistance using and configuring your OVHcloud solutions, please refer to our support offers.

Join our community of users.