How to Generate a CSR in Vesta Control Panel?

Do you want to secure your Vesta CP server using an SSL cert but aren’t aware of the know-how? If that’s the case with you, don’t – fret! As you have landed on the right article. In this article, we will explore the question, “How do we generate CSR for Vesta CP?” 

To shield your Vesta CP server using an SSL certificate, you first need to have one. To get one, you need to submit the CSR to a trusted Certificate Authority, such as Sectigo, Certera, RapidSSL, GeoTrust, etc., for verification or get a self-signed one. 

What is a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)?

A Certificate Signing Request is an encoded block of text that the Certificate Authority requires to verify the details of the entity to whom the SSL cert is being issued. It incorporates details about your server and organization, such as: 

• Domain name
• Company name
• Public Key
• Signature
• Location information, and much more.

Once the Certificate Authority successfully validates that the information noted in the CSR is correct, the CA issues the SSL cert in the form of .zip folder. This .zip folder is sent to the entity’s registered mail ID requesting the cert. 

How to Generate a CSR in Vesta CP?

Follow the steps mentioned below to generate CSR on Vesta CP:

1. Enter your credentials to log into the Vesta CP dashboard.
2. The Vesta CP dashboard will open. 
3. In the Vesta CP dashboard, navigate to WEB.
4. Move the cursor over the domain that you want to shield using the SSL cert. 
5. Click Edit.
6. Under the SSL Support tab, click Generate CSR.
7. A form will appear.
8. Fill out the form per the below instructions –

8. In the Domain field, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) you want to shield. (E.g – vestacp.com, *vestacp.com (for Wildcard SSL cert)).
9. In the Email Address field, type your official email address.
10. In the Country field, type the 2-letter code of the country in which the institution is located.
11. In the State/Province field, type the name of the state where the institution requesting the SSL cert is situated.
12. In the City/Location field, type the name of the city where the institution is located or situated.
13. In the Organization field, type the full legal name of the organization.
14. Inspect all the entered details carefully.
15. Click the OK button. 
16. A window containing your CSR, private key, and a (self-signed) certificate will appear.

Copy the encoded CSR, including the —–BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST— and —–END CERTIFICATE REQUEST—– tags. Apart from this, save the RSA private key in a separate file on your server or computer.

Once done, follow the instructions to Install the SSL Certificate on Vesta CP.