Setting up Your SSL Certificate in Plesk for Linux
Once your certificate has been issued, you will receive an email message containing the signed certificate, along with intermediate certificate and certificate-installation instructions for all supported Web servers. The certificates and instructions are delivered as an email attachment in .ZIP format. The specifics of the installation procedure are determined by your choice of Web server software.
Follow the instructions below to install the SSL certificate on your Web server. When you have completed the installation process, you must restart Plesk so that your server will recognize the new certificate.
About the Intermediate Certificate
Before you install your issued SSL certificate, you must install our intermediate certificate on your Web server. An intermediate certificate is a subordinate certificate issued by the trusted root specifically to issue end-entity server certificates. The result is a trust-chain that begins at the trusted root CA, through the intermediate, and finally ending with the SSL certificate issued to you. Such certificates are called "chained root certificates."
Intermediate certificates provide an added level of security because the Certification Authority (CA) does not need to issue certificates directly from the CA root certificate.
The intermediate certificate must be installed on the server bundled with our ValiCert root certificate. You may download intermediate/root certificate bundle — sf_root_bundle.crt — from our repository.
Once you have downloaded the bundled certificate, intermediate certificate, and your issued SSL certificate, please follow the instructions below to install them on your Web server.
To Install the Web Server Certificate and the Intermediate Certificate
- Log in to Plesk as admin.
- From the menu on the left, select Domains.
- Click the domain name that the certificate is issued for and click Certificates.
- Click Browse and locate your signed SSL certificate. Select the certificate file and click Send File.
- Navigate to the location of the saved site certificate you received. Select it and then select Send File. This will upload and install the certificate against the corresponding Private Key.
- In the display list, click the name of the certificate. Paste the bundled intermediate/root certificate in the box labeled "CA Certificate." Click Send Text.
- Click Up Level and select Setup. At the top of the page, change the "SSL Certificate" drop-down menu to the certificate you have just installed.
- From the menu on the left, click Server. Click Service Management.
- Stop and start the Apache process.
NOTE: Simply restarting Apache will not work. You must stop the service; then start it again to complete the installation.
