SSL Installation Instructions

The following instructions will guide you through the SSL installation process on Plesk 10. If you have more than one server or device, you will need to install the certificate on each server or device you need to secure. If you still have not generated your certificate and completed the validation process, reference our CSR Generation Instructions and disregard the steps below.

  1. Make sure you have all the following files saved before proceeding:
    1. Your Server Certificate - This is the certificate you received from the CA for your domain. You may have been sent this via email. If not, you can download it by visiting your Account Dashboard and clicking on your order.
    2. Intermediate Certificates - These files allow the devices connecting to your server to identify the issuing CA. There may be more than one of these certificates. If you got your certificate in a ZIP folder, it should also contain the Intermediate certificate(s), which is sometimes referred to as a CA Bundle. If not, download the appropriate CA Bundle for your certificate.
    3. Your Private Key - This file should be on your server, or in your possession if you generated your CSR from a free generator tool. On certain platforms, such as Microsoft IIS, the private key is not immediately visible to you but the server is keeping track of it.
  2. Log in to Parallels Plesk Panel
  3. Select Websites & Domains tab in the top navigation menu.
  4. Click the SSL Certificate link.
  5. Click Manage next to the domain the certificate is for.
  6. Click Add SSL Certificate.
  7. Upload the Certificate Files using either one of the two options below:
    1. Upload certificate files - This option will allow you to browser for your previously saved Private Key, Certificate (Your Server Certificate), and CA Certificate (Intermediate Certificates).
    2. Upload certificate as text - This option will allow you to copy your previously saved Private Key, Certificate (Your Server Certificate), and CA Certificate (Intermediate Certificates) from a text editor such as Notepad and paste into the blank text boxes.

Note 1: If you made the CSR and private key outside of your Plesk account and failed to save the files, you will have problems proceeding and may need to re-issue the SSL certificate with a newly created key pair.

Note 2: If you received the certificate in a ZIP file, click "Extract All" and then drag your server certificate into a text editor such as Notepad. This will allow you to copy all text contents needed including "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----" and "END CERTIFICATE-----".

Note 3: If you forgot to save the intermediate certificates, download the appropriate CA Bundle for your certificate.

  1. Click Send Files or Send Text.
  2. Return to the Website & Domains tab, select your Domain Name, and click Hosting Settings.
  3. Check SSL Support and select your newly uploaded Certificate Name in the Certificate dropdown menu.
  4. Click OK.

Congratulations! You've successfully installed your SSL certificate! To check your work, visit the website in your browser at https://yourdomain.tld and view the certificate/site information to see if HTTPS/SSL is working properly. Remember, you may need to restart your server for changes to take effect.

To check your server's configurations more thoroughly, use our SSL Checker Tool or contact our Customer Experience Department for additional assistance.