Manage Service SSL Certificates

Overview

This interface allows you to manage certificates for your server’s services. For example, you can manage certificates for the following services:

• Exim (SMTP).

• POP3 and IMAP.

• The cPanel services (cPanel & WHM and Webmail).

• Your FTP server.

• iOS Mail Push Notifications (APNs).

SSL certificates allow your web server to identify itself to the computers that access it.

You can use any of the following types of certificates to secure your server’s services:

• A free cPanel-signed hostname certificate.

• A certificate that you obtained from a certificate authority (CA).

• A self-signed certificate.

  Warning:

  We recommend that you do not use self-signed certificates. They provide less security than certificates from a CA. Any server could claim to be your server with a self-signed certificate because they do not use a third-party verification system. To remedy this, use certificates from a CA, which verifies that users securely connect to your server.

• PKCS #12 (iOS APNs only).

For more information about how to generate or purchase a certificate, read our Generate an SSL Certificate and Signing Request documentation.

Free cPanel-signed certificate

cPanel, L.L.C. offers valid cPanel & WHM license holders a free signed certificate for the services on your server’s hostname. This offer replaces the certificates for these services that meet any of the following conditions:

• Maintains a weak signature algorithm.

• Revoked.

• Self-signed.

• Invalid (For example, your server’s hostname must be valid and resolve in DNS).

• Will expire soon, based on the following criteria:

  • cPanel-provided certificates that expire in less than 25 days.

  • Certificates issued by any other provider that expire in less than 3 days.

When the existing certificate meets any of these conditions, the server will order a replacement certificate when the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/upcp maintenance runs. The system will download and install that certificate when available. If the existing certificate expires before the replacement certificate is available, the system will install a self-signed certificate, and then replace it with the ordered certificate when available.

Service SSL Certificates

The interface displays the following table, which lists the services on your server and the certificates for each service:

Service

The service that the certificate secures.

Certificate Domains

The domain of the service that the certificate secures.

Certificate Expiration

The date on which the certificate expires.

Certificate Key

The type of key that the system used to generate the certificate.

Actions

Reset a Certificate

This option uninstalls the current certificate for the service and replaces it with a new self-signed certificate.

To reset a certificate, perform the following steps:

1. Click Reset Certificate next to the service for which to reset the certificate.

2. Click Proceed to generate and automatically install the certificate.

Certificate Details

This option displays details about the installed certificate for the service:

• Domains — The domain of the service that the certificate secures.

• Issuer — Information about the CA that issued the certificate.

  Note:

  This column displays a warning message for self-signed certificates.

• Key — The type of key that the system used to generate the certificate.

• Expiration — The date on which the certificate expires.

  Note:

  • Before the certificate expires, WHM sends a warning to the system administrator’s email address to reset or replace the certificates. A warning also appears in WHM’s Home interface.
  • If your server meets the requirements to obtain a free cPanel-signed certificate, the server automatically orders one the next time that the upcp maintenance script runs. When the signed certificate becomes available, the server downloads and installs it.
    

Apply Certificate to Another Service

This option allows you to apply a certificate to multiple services. This is useful, for example, when you wish to apply a signed certificate for your server’s main domain to other services on your server.

To apply a certificate to another service, perform the following steps:

1. Click the appropriate Apply Certificate to Another Service link.

2. The interface will scroll down to the Install a New Certificate section. Select the checkboxes for the services for which to apply this certificate.

   Note:

   WHM automatically enters the details of the Install a New Certificate text boxes with the certificate’s information.

3. Click Install to install the certificate to the selected services, or click Cancel to cancel the operation.

   Warning:

   If you replace a certificate from a CA with a self-signed one, users may see warnings because their client applications do not trust self-signed certificates.

Install a New Certificate

This form allows you to install a new certificate that you can use to secure the services on your server.

To install a new certificate on your server, perform the following steps:

1. To use a certificate that already exists on your server, click Browse Certificates. Select the services that you wish for the certificate to secure.

   1. Click Browse Account and select the username from the menu, or click Browse Apache.

   2. Select the certificate that you wish to use from the menu.

   3. Click Use Certificate to use the certificate, or click Cancel to cancel the operation.

      Note:

      WHM automatically enters the certificate’s information into the Install a New Certificate form.

2. Paste the contents of the Certificate file (.crt) into the Certificate text box.

   Note:

   Click Autofill by certificate to search for the appropriate private key and CA bundle from cPanel’s public CA bundle repository.

3. Paste the contents of the Private Key file (.key) into the Private Key text box.

4. If you have a CA bundle, paste the contents of that bundle (.cab) into the Certificate Authority Bundle text box.

5. Click Install to install the certificate, or click Cancel to cancel the operation.

6. If you selected the cpsrvd daemon, and the certificate has installed correctly, the interface will prompt you to restart the cpsrvd daemon. Click Restart cpsrvd to restart the cPanel service daemon.

iOS Mail push notifications

Use this interface to manage the certificate and key that your server uses to communicate with APNs. For more information about how to install this certificate, read our How to Set Up iOS Push Notifications documentation.