Although automatic installation of SSL certificates is available when they are purchased through your Customer Manager, you do have the option to manually request and install your own certificate if you have chosen to obtain the certificate from another provider. To manually request and install a certificate you first need to log into the Plesk control panel:

Important Note: These instructions are for a clean SSL install on a site that has not previously had a certificate installed on it. If you currently have a certificate installed and are replacing it, you will need to follow the same steps, but instead of clicking Add SSL Certificate you would need to click the existing certificate and replace it with a new CSR and certificate

The first step is to generate a CSR, which is used by the certificate provider to generate the certificate:

• Once logged in click SSL Certificates in the Additional Tools section of the control panel
• Click Add SSL Certificate
• The Certificate Name can be whatever you wish but generally, you will want that to match the domain you wish to generate the certificate for
• The Bits are for the type of SSL generated. There are 1024 and 2048 bit certificates available and the higher the bit the more complex the encryption will be on the certificate. The certificate provider can inform you on what type of CSR will need to be generated for the type of certificate you have purchased
• The Country, City, and State will need to be accurate in terms of your business or organization
• The Organization Name and Organization Department will generally be your company/website name
• The Domain name is the most crucial part of the CSR generation. Sometimes companies will use a subdomain of their regular site (ie: sales.domain.com) for their secure domain, while others will use the www (ie: www.domain.com), and others will use no subdomain (ie: domain.com). This is your choice, but you must keep in mind that only the specific domain name you choose will have the encryption. So if you order the certificate for www.domain.com, all of the links in your website that you wish to use the encrypted connection will need to have the www prefix, and likewise for any other subdomains. If no subdomain is chosen, then the domain domain itself will use the encryption.
• Enter the Email Address on your domain you want the certificate to be associated with
• Once you have completed the form click Request

The next step is to submit the CSR to the certificate provider:

• Click the certificate name in the list at the bottom of the following screen after clicking the Request button
• On the next screen you will need to copy the the CSR information listed and submit that to the certificate provider. The CSR will generally look something like this:
  
  --—-BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST——- MIIBzTCCATYCAQAwgYwxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMQswCQYDVQQIEwJPSDERMA8GA1UE BxMIQ29sdW1idXMxFTATBgNVBAoTDEp1bXBsaW5lLmNvbTEiMCAGA1UEAxMZd3d3 LmNhbHZhcnllbGVjdHJpY2FsLmNvbTEiMCAGCSqGSIb3DQEJARYTYWRtaW5zQGp1 bXBsaW5lLmNvbTCBnzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOBjQAwgYkCgYEAyGQ2uB4keZ9m dAZc3d4tZT0O6drZW01+a0N89y0xT4KLu94NJjR1aiwUSjQ/sp/3Plkoq4HmAcZ/ Uwk83PxtqA69TcNNSarmmoKaROcC3p1eBFP7ANcihAE9IYfMyCJQz9o5aNdtHfOg txIax56B44FLVmnqPHvv4PAZCQJs92ECAwEAAaAAMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBBAUAA4GB AKU3IwrTqrYvNbaCjLSAPZ08PD3G648kXirlbK4RidX7yRlYudVb3ORauba6fwaw zGQP8pIrWdx79cXd8guOA0T22ttglTSaGakRSOvdlLEcfieCAyCWdAXJlbLl6kud MxZvbUr/Rv8tUWwIv4tYeGF+T2dVWIgH5XY0limAMeF3
  ——-END CERTIFICATE REQUEST——-
  
  
• Submit that data to the certificate provider

The final Step is to install the certificate:

• Once you have submitted the CSR to the SSL provider and had the certificate generated for you, you will need to log back into the Plesk control panel
• Once logged in click SSL Certificates in the Additional Tools section of the control panel
• Click the certificate name in the list at the bottom of the following screen
• Paste the certificate provided to you in the Certificate field and click Send Text
• The certificate is now installed