To Configure an SSL in plesk on your dedicated server. You will need to Generate a CSR, Validate the certificate and then Install the SSL on your server.
Generating a CSR:
1. Log into plesk for your server (e.g. https://yourserver-name.co.uk:8443) 2. Go to the 'Websites & Domains' tab. 3. Under the domain you wish to purchase an SSL for choose the 'SSL/TLS Certificates' option from the selection. 4. Choose the 'Add SSL' option at the top of the page. 5. Fill in the information at the top of the form (remember domain name will be specific to the SSL, so either www.testsite.com, testsite.com or subdomain.testsite.com). 6. Once details have been filled in, you can click 'Request'. You will then be presented with the Certificate Request (CSR) which you will have to copy. 7. When you purchase an SSL order, this CSR will need to be submitted to generate a certificate which will work with the server. ** The server type would be a 'plesk' server, you will likely be asked this when submitting the SSL order **
Validation Some SSL providers can provide different methods of validating the SSL order. The most common validation method is an email link, which will send an email to a specific email address: admin@DOMAIN administrator@DOMAIN webmaster@DOMAIN hostmaster@DOMAIN
These can also be configured as Aliases to an existing account if you don't have these configured already.
Alternative methods some providers use are 'file auth' which will give you a txt file to upload to your site. The file does need to be web accessible, however if you have access this is the quickest and easiest method.
DNS authentication will allow you to create a TXT record in the DNS zone of the site, which can take some time depending on DNS propagation.
Installation
Once you have the SSL, you will can now install it.
1. Go back to the control panel and back to the 'SSL/TLS Certificates' page where you made your request. 2. Click on the certificate you have listed. 3. Paste your certificate into the 'Certificate' textbox and click 'Send Text'. *You can also provide the CA certificate if that is provided, however isn't necessary to complete the installation*
Enabling your SSL 1. under the 'Websites & Domains' tab choose 'hosting Settings' for your domain. 2. Tick the 'SSL Support' feature. 3. Click the drop down to choose the SSL you want to show on the site.
To redirect all http traffic to https, there is also an option under 'hosting Settings' to redirect http requests to https with a search engine friendly 301 redirect.
