FAQs

The CSR is a small block of encoded text with your contact data required by the CA to verify your credentials before issuing the SSL certificate.

Copy Link

Ensure that the CA is trustworthy and valid. All commercial CAs offer reliable digital certificates with SSL warranties in the unlikely event of a data breach or fraudulent issuance. Next, determine your website needs and budget before getting a digital certificate. A tool like SSL Wizard can help you choose the perfect certificate for your project.

Copy Link

Depending on the SSL validation level, the CA will run a series of checks to establish identity. For Domain Validation certificates, verifying domain ownership is an automated process that requires the applicant to follow pre-established steps.

If you request Business or Extended Validation SSL, the CA will use public databases to confirm your company’s identity. If it fails to do so, the CA will ask you to submit additional paperwork.

Copy Link

Private CAs are free, but their certificates are self-signed and not suitable for the Internet. On the other hand, Public CAs can be both free and commercial. Browsers and operating systems will trust a free or commercial digital certificate if it’s signed by a public CA.

Copy Link

We’ve written a detailed guide on how to import and export a PFX file in Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services).

Copy Link

To convert an X.509 certificate into PEM, use the OpenSSL utility and the following command line:

openssl x509 -in certificatename.cer -outform PEM -out certificatename.pem

Copy Link

The PKCS#12 or PFX format contains the certificates(S) and the private key. This format stores the private key and the associated certificate in a single encrypted file.

Copy Link

Open your SSL file with any text editor. If you see the label “—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–” at the beginning of the certificate file and “—–END CERTIFICATE—–” at the end of the file, then the certificate is in PEM format. If the certificate is in DER format, it will not contain these labels and will instead be a binary file.

Copy Link

To create an SSL certificate in PEM format on Linux, you can use the OpenSSL toolkit and its command lines. Once you’ve received the SSL certificate from the CA, you can create the PEM format file by concatenating the private key and the SSL certificate together in a single file using the following command:

cat private.key your_ssl_certificate.crt > your_ssl_certificate.pem

Copy Link

Apache uses the PEM certificate format with .cer .crt and .key file extensions.

Copy Link