Who is the "SSL Signer" that I need to send my private key and csr to?

[PhotoMash]

Hi there,

I'm trying to setup SSL for a free site hosted here and I've been directed to cpanel

to generate a private key and a csr.  I have done this, but now it says that I need to 

send these to the "SSL Signer" so that they can issue me a certificate.  Who is this

party?

 

The instructions in the tutorials and the knowledgebase are outdated and do not

correlate with current setup (and all of the image links are broken...so you can't

see any screenshot guides).

 

Thanks!

[TinkerMan]

Whoever you want to sign your certificate. GoGetSSL provides free certificates if that is what you are looking for.

[PhotoMash]

Thanks TinkerMan, I already made it there and am setting up a free one but it doesn't seem to want to validate me, either by adding a CNAME record or by adding the /pki-validation file.  Ooooooff.  I don't think I'm doing anything wrong.  🤔

[User51]

GoGetSSL can be a bit slow at times.

Make sure that for the CNAME records, the record does not include the domain.

So if the record is:

_XXXXX.yourdomain.com.

Change it to just:

_XXXXX

And select the domain separately in the cPanel.

=====

Sorry if this is an awful explenation lol,

If you send screenshots of the records you inputted into the cPanel, that could help us figure out the problem.

Edited August 26, 2022 by User51

[PhotoMash]

@TinkerMan

@BastelPichi

@User51

Is there a way to go on to the server via ftp and manually delete certain files and/or folders because for

some reason this is botched up and I can't get it to install properly.?  I've blown thru 2 of the 3 free

certificates available on GoGetSSL.

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by PhotoMash

[PhotoMash]

@BastelPichi

Thanks for the pichisdns.com link.  I'll check that out if I run out due to my errors.

[TinkerMan]

@PhotoMash

GoGetSSL Should provide you with a certificate and private key. 
 

Go back to one of the certificates that have already been issued and check for a certificate and private key. You can upload these keys in the control panel. 
 

(Because of their sensitive nature, NEVER share those keys publicly). 

[TinkerMan]

That's what I meant, GoGetSSL provides your with the certificate KEY.

 

What I should have said is go look for just the certificate key, you already have the private key.

[PhotoMash]

@BastelPichi

@TinkerMan

 

Sorry this is becoming such a hassle.  Thank you for hanging in there with me.  I will get down

to the detailed nitty gritty now.

So, the very very first thing I when I realized that my free site was taking 15+ sec to load and then came with a "not secure" warning,  I went into cPanel to see if there was a SSL feature.  When I saw it there, I clicked on it and it took me to a page that had a button that would allow me to configure my SSL  (see image)  .   So I clicked configure.

 

That took me to the following page (image below)



From here, I assumed  that I should generate the key and CSR , which I did.  Then, with key and CSR in hand, I posted the first question in this thread. 

Then, when I went to SSLforFree (ZeroSSL) and setup an account and began that process, it asked me to validate by email, but I don't have the email address  [email protected]).   So, I tried the other ways.  The second way didn't work either.  But finally after about 4 tries, the CNAME entries finally got the thumbs up.  So, then I downloaded the zip file that included the ca_bundle.crt, private.key and certificate.crt  .

 

So then I went back to the screen with the 3 fields (shown above) and entered the data from the private.key on top, the certificate.crt data in the bottom field and then the ca_bundle.crt data in the middle field.  Then I pressed "Upload Certificate"...which made the data in the bottom 2 fields disappear but the private.key data remained.  Assuming this was all part of the process, I then went back to my open screen at SSLforFree (ZeroSSL) to click on "validate your installation"...but it failed and said to try again in 5 min.  Then I went back to the cPanel screen , filled in the 3 fields again and this time I pressed "Upload Key" button, thinking that SSLforFree (ZeroSSL) gave me a different key than the one that I auto-generated from before.  When I did that, the same thing happened as before:  the bottom two fields disappeared and the private key remained in the upper field.  Then I went back to see if the installation could be validated again, but it wouldn't.  Then, I tried one more time filling the 3 fields and pressing "Upload Certificate" and then checked the installation validator, but again it would not validate my installation.  

I guess I've done this 3 times because ZeroSSL says that I've had 3 certificates issued....so now, unless I can get one of these to work, I'll need to get another free one from somewhere else.

Thanks again for your help.  Let me know if there are any other screens that I should send to you.

[PhotoMash]

@BastelPichi

It seems to have worked.  Thanks!

At least, when I type the following URL in, it actually goes to the address without issues

      https://photomash.byethost33.com