SSL Certificates

Leaseweb offers several SSL certificates in order to secure your website or other services. A wide range in certificates can be purchased from us. The validation options that we provide for each of the SSL certificates are: Domain validated, Organization validated or Extended validation.

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What is the difference between Domain (DV), Organization (OV) and Extended (EV) validation?

DV: Quickest verification process, cheaper and a secure feeling for the visitors of the website. For this certificate the domain needs to be owned by you. This is done in a verification process in which you have to prove that you’re the owner of the domain.

OV: Longer verification process, expensive, an increasingly secure feeling for the visitors of the website over DV.
During the verification process a questionnaire is send to the organization with questions like ‘what is the address of the organization’. Only if all this information matches the SSL application the certificate will be provided. OV certification is often used when bank transfers or payments are part of the website.

EV: The highest form of verification, leading to a green address bar, and in most browsers the company name is highlighted.
During the verification process company details are requested and strictly checked. Checks with the Chamber of Commerce are common, and a phone call is made for verification.

Does your business require a Wildcard SSL certificate?

If the website that has to be secured is using subdomains that require the security of the SSL as well, it is advised to use a Wildcard SSL. Without Wildcard a unique SSL certificate has to be used for every subdomain.

How can I request a Let’s Encrypt certificate for my website?

Let’s Encrypt is only supported at our Linux web hosting platform. If you would like to have it enabled for your website, please submit a ticket in the Customer Portal. The following picture shows the variables that are filled in to help you submit it directly in the correct way:

How can I order SSL certificates with Leaseweb?

1. Login to Customer Portal, and on the left panel, under Hosting, select SSL Certificates.
   
2. Click the + Order New Certificate button. You are redirected to the Order SSL Certificate page.
   

3. You can choose the default option or click more options to review more SSL Certificate Types. Select the type of certificate you want to order.
   

   Information

   Not sure about which certificate to choose? You can have an overview of each certificate type on the top of this page.

4. Select the domain for which you want to request the certificate.
5. You can also select to manually input your Certified Signing Request (CSR). Just select None, I will provide a CSR from the drop box list, and paste your CSR in the text area. click Continue.
   
6. Click Submit. You will see the confirmation page for your order. You must agree with the Terms and Conditions, and click the Place order button.
7. Your order is submitted and will be processed as soon as possible. You will receive a confirmation email with your order number.

Our Customer Care team is happy to assist you with ordering and installing an SSL certificate on our Web Hosting platform. You can contact us anytime by opening a ticket under Support from the Customer Portal. In this case, please, inform us your purchase order number. 

How can I add my own SSL certificate to my Leaseweb domain?

If you have a Web Hosting pack with Leaseweb, our Customer Care team can add an SSL certificate from another provider to this domain. You can do this by opening a ticket under Support from the Customer Portal with the following information:

– The concerning domain
– The private key 
– The certificate
– The Intermediate chain

We will add the SSL certificate to your domain and inform you once it is done.

How can I create a CSR (SHA1 RSA key) and Private Key?

Perform the following tasks to create a CSR:

Tip

1. Connect to your server by using an SSH connection.
   In order to use the toolkit you need to have root privileges.

2. Go to the folder you wish to save your CSR and Private key. For example:

   cd /etc/ssl/certs

3. Use the following command to create the SHA1 RSA key and CSR. Replace leaseweb_com with the domain you wish to create the certificates for.

   openssl req -utf8 -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout www_leaseweb_com.key -out www_leaseweb_com.csr

4. You will now have to answer a few questions. Note that these questions are important for requesting your SSL certificate. The following information should be provided:

   CSR detail	Explanation	Example
   Country name	The country your organization is legally incorporated	NL
   State or province name	The state or province your organization is legally incorporated	Noord Holland
   Locality Name	The city your organization is legally incorporated	Amsterdam
   Organization Name	Your company name	Leaseweb
   Organizational Unit Name	Your departments name	Marketing
   Common Name	The fully qualified domain name (FQDN)	leaseweb.com

   Email address and passwords are not necessary during the creation. You can enter when it is blank.

5. Use the ‘cat’ command to read the CSR or the private key.

   cat www_leaseweb_com.csr
   
   
   OR
   
   
   cat www_leaseweb_com.key

If you do not have access to a server you can use a CSR Generator. However, we highly recommend that you create a CSR and Private Key using the openssl toolkit.

How can I manage SSL certificates?

1. Login to Customer Portal, and on the left panel, under Hosting, select SSL Certificates.
   
2. The list of SSL certificates ordered with Leaseweb is displayed. You can see the Domain for which each of the certificates was ordered, its Type, Status, as well as Issue and Expiration Dates.
3. When certificate are issued, you can download the corresponding installation files by clicking on the Download icon.
4. To see more information on a specific certificate order, click on the Details icon.
   
5. You can always change the validation method for those certificates. To see the current method, click on the Show icon. 
   
6. To change it, click on the Change icon. You can select File, Email or DNS validation.
   
   If you select Email, then you need to provide an email address for the validation to happen.
7. Click Save to apply your choice.