What is an SSL Certificate?
A SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital credential that establishes a secure, encrypted connection between a web server and a user's browser. This encryption ensures that any data exchanged—such as login credentials, payment information, or personal details—remains private and protected from unauthorized access or tampering.
Do I need to provide my own SSL Certificate?
By default Stacks will automatically provision and renew SSL certificates as part of your subscription —no manual action is required.
Can I supply my own SSL Certificate?
Yes. if your organization prefers to supply its own SSL Certificate, please contact support and request a CSR file and provide the following information:
- Country Name: enter two-letter code of your country;
- State or Province Name: enter the complete name of your state, province or region;
- Locality Name: enter the complete name of your city or locality;
- Organization Name: provide the officially registered name for your business. For Organization and Extended Validation certificates, Certificate Authorities will be verifying the submitted organization. For Domain Validated SSLs this field content will not be listed in the issued certificate (you can use NA here for a Domain Validation certificate, if you do not have an organization registered);
- Organization Unit Name: provide the name of a division or department within the organization entered above. You can use NA for Domain Validation Certificates;
- Common Name: enter the fully qualified domain name (ex.: http://domain.com or sub.domain.com), you would like to secure with an SSL certificate. If the certificate you are activating is a Wildcard SSL, please use the following format for the common name: .example.com.
- Email Address: Enter your e-mail address. The e-mail used for the CSR generation will not be used for the domain control validation or for the reception of an issued certificate.You will be also prompted to enter some extra attributes. They are optional and you can input a dot ‘.’ to leave the fields blank.
- A Challenge Password: it is basically a shared-secret pass between the certificate applicant and the SSL issuer that the issuer may use to authenticate you, should this ever be needed. This authentication method is not used by the Certificate Authorities we deal with. Therefore, you can leave this field blank.
- An Optional Company Name: this option can be also left blank.
How often do SSL Certificates expire?
SSL certificates provisioned by Stacks expire every 90 days, but as part of our service, they are automatically renewed before expiration. This ensures your site stays secure and accessible without any interruptions.
If your organization chooses to provide its own SSL certificate, please be aware of the following:
- Expiration dates may vary and certificates do not renew automatically.
- The Stacks team does not monitor expiration dates for externally supplied certificates.
- It is the responsibility of your organization's technical contact to ensure a valid certificate is generated and submitted to Stacks before the current one expires.
How can I verify if my SSL Certificate is valid?
To identify he certificate's issuer, validity period, and other details such as the expiration date, you can inspect the certificate directly in most browsers:
- Chrome: Click the padlock icon in the address bar → "Connection is secure" → "Certificate is valid"
- Firefox: Click the padlock → "Connection secure" → "More information" → "View Certificate"
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Safari: Click Safari in the menu → Select "Connection Security Details" → Click "Show Certificate"